Artist: Tulus
Country: Norway
Label: Darkness Shall Rise Productions
Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD
Year: 2026
Oh dear, a new Tulus album. ‘Morbid Desires’ is the Norwegian’s eighth instalment and, frankly, it is quite hard to pinpoint the album in both the band’s discography and the global Black Metal movement as a whole. In fact, it is getting harder with each of their recordings. Their last album, ‘Fandens Kall’ from 2023 was a solid album, but time learned that it was also rather forgettable. And, honestly, that is basically what most of their full back catalogue is about.
In itself, there’s nothing wrong with your first few albums turning out to be your best; to be honest, that’s true of the vast majority of bands, regardless of style or genre. It is, however, a painful realisation that I find it difficult to recall anything specific from the five albums released since Tulus’s return in 2006. Equally painful is the understanding that this is almost certainly the fate of ‘Morbid Desires’ as well.
Although I’ve always had a soft spot for bands that stoically continue to go their own way, unfazed by criticism and in the absence of any substantial success, it’s also an easy conclusion to draw that Tulus certainly aren’t making things easy for themselves either. Over the last few albums, it seems the Norwegians have made it something of a sport to produce albums that are as incoherent as possible. The aforementioned ‘Fandens Kall’ was, in itself, still fairly straightforward, but on ‘Morbid Desires’ they pull out all the stops. The result is, therefore, what you could rightly call a loose cannon on deck – in a fierce autumn storm, even.
‘Morbid Desires’ brings you from the opening track which combines a somewhat Ulver-like serenity with Spanish flamenco guitars to the last one that has almost nothing to do with Black Metal but instead is a full-on bluesy piece including a mandatory harmonica. The rest, all the tracks in between this 40-minute schizophrenic affair, is literally serving you more of that, acoustic sections, galloping Black Metal, some downright Rock songs and whatnot, all sandwiched between the rather recognizable Black-‘n’-Roll that has made up the majority of the band’s discography. Those mid-tempo, rolling riffs and simplistic drum patterns make a comparison with Tulus’ twin, Khold, still very relevant today. Just like Khold, nothing Tulus ever did is very bad, but even within Tulus’ wide frame of musical versatility, the music soon fades into the background and blends into a long, monotonous stretch.
The irony is that the more unorthodox sections, which make the album so difficult to hold together, are actually the most interesting. The tracks, which consist largely of monotonous, one-dimensional, galloping rock riffs, eventually become incredibly irritating, just as they do with Khold. So the conclusion is actually the same as it has been before: Tulus will never be a crowd favourite; they’re simply too erratic and too headstrong for that. Perhaps that’s also the reason why the band has gone through four labels over the last five albums.
