Review by Jeger on October 24, 2024.

Wuldorgast - an anomaly within the USBM scene - members of the Order of the Broken Sword circle alongside fellows from Luring and Azathoth’s Dream. Occult practitioners? Keepers of forbidden knowledge? Your guess is as good as mine, but one fact remains starkly clear, and that is that Wuldorgast are cultivars of true black metal whose style of play leans toward few known musical entities. It’s becoming increasingly prevalent within the world of black metal for Satanic bands to form sects like TOOTBS - Australia’s Ordo Ater Anguis for example - as a means to share knowledge, literature pertaining to spirituality, and ideas related to music. Real black metal for no-bullshit black metal people is what you can expect here. On December 13, 2024, as we vail to Winter’s deathly majesty, Wuldorgast will release their debut LP, Cold Light via Iron Bonehead. 

A rain-drenched night hunt to kick off the opening track, 'Obscured In Shadows'. Cold chasmic atmosphere like wandering some cursed cavern forlorn and just this overwhelming sense of legitimacy in the craft. Stripped down, but not raw, just a bit unpolished and somewhat reminiscent of Marduk’s “Those Of The Unlight” or Watain’s “Rabid Death’s Curse” is Cold Light. The natural order of things: the constant struggle, the alpha, and the unfit beta. Animal instinct is what drives us above all other things and “Natural Life is Eternal Battle” is a testament to this primal truth; a sonic scourge into the realm of baser riff-driven BM - the beast within unleashed to the sound of primitive chugs and segmented rhythmic beats upon drums of the hunt - comparable to Asagraum’s “Hate Of Satan’s Hammer”, but more brutish and unrefined. True fucking black metal, nothing more, nothing less. And as the full moon rises through misted fog o’er the woodland canopy, wolf-kin stir and howl their baleful cries into the blackened azure. Feel the aggression, the palpable pulse of nightly beasts and the gripping presence of great spirits of the wood. 

'Labyrinth Of Control' is yet another ode to the ancient essence of the wolf. Bestial and unrelenting yet compositionally epic with anticipatory time-changes along with more of those chugging riffs but also scaling melodic guitar parts; an almost medieval feel to this one, while the following track, 'Cipher To Eternity' emanates elements of old-school heavy, death and thrash metals - comprehensive and yet accessible. A banger! A true black metal enthusiast’s wet dream. 

Damn… A gem! Hidden beneath the hallowed soil of the American underground and just waiting for you - the worthy soul to uncover it. This is what black metal should sound like, the way black metal should feel. More than just art, but indicative of a particular mindset and life code; the hunter’s way, the way of the beast. Hard to believe that this could possibly be a debut LP, as it oozes wisdom and class unparalleled. A prime example of what constitutes the purest BM experience imaginable and no less than perfect. Mainstream black metal fans should run in the other direction because this will only make them feel like something lesser than men. Sheep scurrying to the howl with no Shepherd in sight to guide them to their mangers and salivating incisors to tear through their flesh; reveling in the ecstasy of the kill in the pitch black night. Black metal for the torch and for bonfires, for the hooded cloak, and for the desecration of innocence. Are you worthy?

Rating: 10 out of 10

Review by JD on May 26, 2009.

Old school Black/Thrash Metal has come creeping out of the darkened corners of the Brazilian scene from a band that has been around a time or two... ah, I love these sort of albums when they cross my desk. Makes me feel... alive again.

Vulcano have been around for a very long time, around 1982 or 83 by my rather exhaustive research I have done. Sadly. I am finally having the pure pleasure of hearing this Brazilian metal icons for the very first time... and dammit, I am glad to finally be hearing these guys in all of their darkened glory.

Taking their musical cues from all of the classic metal like Venom, Grave Digger and all of the other 80's Thrash and Black Metal that could come to mind... they take you back to when Black Metal was very heavy yet had this rawness that was refreshing but still really scared your parents to death.. Vulcano is not the normal blowtorch in-the-throat vocal stylings or the screaming and demented detuned guitar mayhem that is associated with today's crop of Black Metal that comes from all corners of our globe... yet I find Vulcano to be more satisfying than any other band out there.

Songs like 'The Bells Of Death' and the very shocking 'The Sign Carved On The Door' are scary, full of heaviness yet holds you at every turn... making most of the songs as well seem so fluidly memorable while sinking you into the dark chasm called Hades. That is the sign of a band hitting their strides. Pretty good for a band that never sung a single word in English with the first albums out.

Vulcano are heavy while still giving some very memorable and honestly meaty hooks as well... but they do it all with the fire. They bring back that long missed heyday of the original BM style that attracted me in the first place , yet never once seemed out of date or cartoonish... they seem fresh and out to make you bang your head a time or two (Two thousand plus I would estimate). They are doing it proudly, and is displaying that they are worthy of a look.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 8
Atmosphere: 8.5
Production: 7.5
Originality: 6.5
Overall: 8

Rating: 7.7 out of 10