HULDER

Dedicated acolytes of the black metal underground will already be familiar with HULDER. One of the most distinctive and promising new acts the genre has produced in years, the Belgian musician has established herself as a major force, largely due to the undeniable quality and intensity of the two albums she has released since emerging amidst a flurry of exceptional demos in 2018. Both 2021's startling debut, "Godslastering: Hymns of a Forlorn Peasantry" and its even more impressive 2024 follow-up "Verses in Oath" spoke of an eccentric but resolute talent, ablaze in the majesty of nature and thriving amid the dark wonder of supernatural forces. Brimming with potential from the start, HULDER always seemed to be an artist on a mission, and with her third full-length album, the campaign to spread that intuitive darkness far and wide reaches its most significant milestone. A vicious and uncompromising black metal record, rich with atmosphere and bristling with sharp edges, "Verbolgen" (loose translation: "wrathful") is simply glorious.

There are always plenty of black metal albums that miss the mark due to a lazy attachment to anemic, self-consciously old-school production. "Verbolgen" is by no means overproduced or polished, but it does have an immense, otherworldly power and a brutal muscularity that immediately sets it apart from the common herd. After the gentle, scene-setting wooziness of intro "Drie Raven", HULDER's riffs and compositional bravado take center stage, as "The Crowning" unfolds like a pulverizing, seismic tremor. Blistering blasts, a claustrophobic barrage of malicious guitars, and the Belgian's monstrous vocals combine to make an overwhelming avalanche of sound. Somewhat against the odds, there are hypnotic melodies woven through the assault, creating an all-encompassing, three-dimensional rush of adrenalin that rarely recedes throughout these 50 vivid minutes of twilit terror. It is all insanely exciting and explosive, and yet there is such depth to what HULDER is doing that there is more than enough room for nuance and subtlety, even if it does come at the listener like a sustained artillery attack. Songs like the skull-rattling title track and skin-scorching finale "The Glow of Dawn" get straight to the point, with metal credentials on full display. Elsewhere, the more expansive likes of centerpiece "In Blood and In Earth" harness the icy serenity of ancient folk music before the quiet is broken by rolling waves of stately grandeur, replete with more insidious, melodic touches. Everything crackles and fizzes with passion and grim intent, and as it powers to its conclusion, "Verbolgen" never feels less than alive with dark possibility.

Not just her finest work to date, but an album that can sit comfortably alongside this year's other prominent black metal triumphs, this is where HULDER transcends her burgeoning reputation and becomes a very important and idiosyncratic figurehead for artful extremity. Whatever comes next, this is a potent declaration of artistic superiority.