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Thulcandra: Fallen angel's domain
17/01/11 || Lord K Philipson
“Inspired by the music of Dissection and Unanimated, the founding members followed the path first explored by the Swedish masters of blackened death metal.”
That’s what it says and sometimes these kind of things actually do not lie. It’s one thing to pay a nice little homage to your influences, but when it comes to blatantly stealing your fave band’s sound it most often turn out ridiculous. Thulpenis sound so much (old) Dissection it’s actually not even remotely close to sane. But the thing is – they do it real, real well. I am surprised I take such a huge liking in it, that means these idiots sure know how to rip-off a certain band (even down to the reverbed toms) and get away with it. That, or they just caught me on a good day. The other band mentioned in the short intro, Unanimated, never did much for me so I’ll let those comparisons slide.
One of the most irritating things in writing is when people refer to bands and put old before their moniker. And therefor I will use the term old Dissection over and over again in this review, just to make a point.
Thulcandra is very melodic, just like old Dissection, they got their riffs down to a T (I never understood what the fuck that means – someone enlighten me), just like old Dissection, and just like old Dissection their drummer isn’t exactly tight all the time. It adds to the charm though. Just like it did with old Dissection. And what do you know, Necrolord (Kristian Wåhlin) even painted the album cover for this one, just like he did with, yes, the old Dissection recordings. If you want further proof that old Dissection is this band’s guiding star – listen to the intro for “Everlasting fire”, just to name one thing. But I can live with this rip-off extravaganza since they are clear about their influences unlike the extremely terrible Ektomorf who steal everything from Sepultura and won’t even admit it. That’s one of those ridiculous bands I was referring to earlier. Old Dissection and Thulcandra sound nothing like Ektomorf, by the way. Just sayin’.
These guys could have been Swedish really (they are German), that’s how qualitative this shit is. The production is all fine (a little too loud kicks for my liking though) as well and there’s not much to complain about if you take it for what it is; a very good band lacking identity altogether, but who’s making up for it with great blackish metal filled with tons of melody and an old Dissection worshiping party in their boxer shorts. So… Do you like old Dissection? Then you will absolutely find Thulcandra to be a great addition to your iPod playlist. I sure as fuck did.
Oh, did I mention that they do a cover of Dissection’s “The somberlain”?
Shocking, I know.
- Information
- Released: Napalm Records
- Label: 2010
- Website: Thulcandra MySpace
- Band
- Steffen Kummerer: vocals, guitar
- Sebastian Ludwig: guitars
- Tobias Ludwig: bass
- Seraph: drums (session)
- Tracklist
- 01. In The Realm Of Thousand Deaths
- 02. Night Eternal
- 03. Fallen Angel’s Dominion
- 04. Frozen Kingdom
- 05. Everlasting Fire
- 06. Spirit Of The Night
- 07. Legions Of Darkness
- 08. In Silence We Eternally Sleep
- 09. The Somberlain (Dissection cover)
