Qrujhuk ‎"Triumph Of The Glorious Blasphemy" CD

Truth be told, I have absolutely no idea why the guy behind Infinite Hatred made this project. For one, it is literally the exact same type of material - this isn't a slight readjustment of it, it is the exact same shit I already heard on Hateful Spell. The only thing more confusing than the artist's decision to make two separate projects of the exact same kind of music is the fact that there is apparently a label out there who were willing to sacrifice all their dignity by releasing both of these albums, and as their first two releases at that! The only way this could really be any less embarrassing would be if the guy behind Infinite Hatred was the owner of that label, but I can't find any indication that that's the case. Anyways, seeing as this is basically more material in the exact same vein as Infinite Hatred, it's on the same level of quality. By which, I mean to say that it's weird and somewhat interesting, but not exactly great.
Qrujhuk play black metal with strangely happy, upbeat tremolo riffs that sound really authoritative and cheesy in the way that most national anthems tend to be. It's an odd style of riffing and it's probably more interesting than it is good, considering that it sounds like what would happen if you mixed black metal with the atmosphere of a square dance, but somehow that's not even where the weirdness ends on Triumph of the Glorious Blasphemy. The bass is oddly super-present on the album and furiously twangs out-of-tune in the underbelly of the music, giving a bit more weight to the album's thin and echoing guitars. Qrujhuk utilize a drum machine, but unlike most bands who use programmed drums I'd say the band probably chose their sound over that of a real drum kit, as its performance is utterly bizarre. For one, there are maybe two or three blast beats used on the album; most of the time the drums mostly sound like really, really fast rolling Motörhead-like rock beats. But while Motörhead are a fun and catchy band, there's no outright groove to any of the beats - they're all extremely martial and locked into place, and keep the music sounding much more rigid and stiff than it would be otherwise. An abundance of skittish snare triplets and technical fills on the toms and cymbals that would sound much more fitting for an electronica album keeps the music sounding much more active and jittery than it otherwise would. Qrujhuk certainly play a type of riffs that's compatible with more than one type of backing beat, but it seems they tried their best to get the music to feel as awkward and uncomfortable as possible.
Well, Triumph of the Glorious Blasphemy is indeed a really quirky album, but I'm not sure I'd say it's great or anything. The riffs all stick to one distinct type of melody that grows a bit old by the time the album draws to a close, and the samey feeling of the album can get really overwhelming by the time it's finished. None of the songs actually progress anywhere, which is strangely fitting for a band as weird as Qrujhuk, but do exhibitions of a single static concept really need to drag on for 4-to-6 minutes like all the tracks do? I kind of get the gist of whatever the band are doing within three or so; the rest of the time is just kind of like "okay yeah there's more of this now yaaaay". Also, the vocals sound like they're being performed by a 9-year-old: they're low-profile as far as vocals go, so it's not too big of a problem, but they're way too high-pitched and don't have much substance beyond a raspy "blech" sound made by a prepubescent kid.
If you're not the most picky album collector in the world, this is probably worth owning if only because, aside from Infinite Hatred, there's hardly anything on Earth that sounds like it. The songs aren't really very objectively "good" but they sound unique enough to maintain your interest. The dark, clean non-metal instrumentals (the songs marked as "Winds of Curse") are pretty good as well, and I'm particularly partial towards the melodies in "A Wolf Near the Black Valley". I got my copy of this for around $3, and if you can find a copy of this for a similar price you might as well pick it up.

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