Sulphur are one of those bands that give the impression they don’t like playing by the rules. These Norwegians started out playing old school black metal in the mid/late 90s under the moniker Taakeriket, but things didn’t quite pan out for them, they split up and were reborn as Sulphur in 2000. This wasn’t an album I jumped at getting; when it was turned down by other writers I think my exact words were ‘well might as well put it in the envelope with my other CDs’ – it arrived along with Cor Scorpii (also on Dark Essence) and ironically it was this one that really blew me away being by far the better of the two albums.
‘Revelation’ gets things moving – it’s a rather dark and unsettling opener with an array of mysterious keys, strange clanging sounds and demonic croaks all going on as the track crawls through slowly, and then ‘True Father Of Lies’ blasts in with some real dirty drumming. At times the guitars showcase some genuine technical prowess, and this fits in with their progressive influence without really being too over the top with it. There’s a point in this track also where everything creeps along slowly, pacing itself and then in come some faerie-like keyboards that sound incredibly beguiling. I would say the backbone of the music straddles the line between black and death metal, sometimes blending the two elements together while other times isolating them a bit more. There is definitely a blackened ferocity to ‘The Purifying Flame,’ at one point it’s all furious downpicking while at other moments there’s more of a deathly clobber to the delivery.
‘Hunting Sickening Seas’ is a really interesting number. It initially prowls in with a true sense of foreboding, while guitars kind of bend out of the mix. At one point there’s some really psychedelic stuff going on, delivering a slice of madness to things, and following track, ‘Luna Noctiluca’ is a particularly gleaming point on the album. This has a strong, sturdy swagger to it and the guitars sound rather ominous – clean vocals also dark and threatening especially as they are bellowed out over the slow proggy passages… and then in come the violins; well, just a small one hinting that things are about to spin off in an almost mournful direction as we spiral ‘Into Nothingness’ with reverberating vocal lines and raging guitars reminding me a little of Anathema’s ‘Shroud Of Frost.’
There’s certainly a progressive approach on this album, with some quirky time sigs, technical guitars and some really schizophrenic sounds. ‘Invented Visions Of Eternal Salvation’ takes a sudden cosmic turn sounding like something from another dimension. ‘Throne Of Illusion’ also has a sci-fi feel with some far out synths reminding me here of last years oddity, Damned Spirits Dance. Thorns In Existence is an excellent album; first couple of spins I must say I wasn’t sure, but around the third or fourth listen it all just clicked for me. Great stuff!
http://www.myspace.com/sulphur666
