U.N.C.U.L.T "אוּסִיפְרְטְנְסְמַאֶל קַנְטְבְס אַדְרַמַלַס אוֹסְטִיבְם (Ucifrtnsmael Cantvs Adramalas Ostivm : Anti-estrutual Formulas Da Genesis Do Anti-mundo)" CD

Uma Nulificação Catalizadora Ultrapassa os Limites Transcedentais - or U.N.C.U.L.T. if you like speaking in acronyms - is an occult blackened death / dark ambient bunch based in Brazil who only really became a force in their genre and their native Portuguese language's lexicon of tongue-twisting band names from 2016 on, adding musicians to what originally had been a one-man project and all members rejoicing in the names of Religiosvs I to VI. Interviews with these U.N.C.U.L.T. followers must be quite a relief for music journalists quailing at the thought of trying to pronounce the band's name or the fiendishly long titles of their releases which so far number one EP and one full-length work (under review here): the interviewer can just ask the question and all the musicians will reply (hopefully not as one).
The truly tortured title of the album is "אוּסִיפְרְטְנְסְמַאֶל קַנְטְבְס אַדְרַמַלַס אוֹסְטִיבְם (Ucifrtnsmael Cantvs Adramalas Ostivm : Anti-estrutual Formulas Da Genesis Do Anti-Mundo)". Seeing that these U.N.C.U.L.T. acolytes spent a fair amount of time and care on the album and song titles, we can hope they spent as much time and energy composing, playing and recording the ritual music that reference Kabbalah, the esoteric philosophy of Jewish, Christian and Islamic mysticism, and in particular the creation of the universe through the spilling of God's light into sephirot or vessels, and the origin of sin when the vessels break under the overflow of light. Anything less and I dread to think what punishments will greet them in Sheol. The album certainly plays like a secret ceremony set in an underground temple catacomb with a dark echoing, dry-air ambience and songs preceded by solemn chanting or a call-and-response litany that sometimes sounds like a mini-inquisition (but missing the punishments). Opening track "Shervirath ha-Kelim" begins in great style with an atmospheric introduction of jangly dark blues guitar, background echoing didjeridoo drone and solemn chanting that transform into a flood of demented howling guitars, blast beats and a choir of guttural monster vocals. The band's music sounds a bit superficially like Deathspell Omega but with more space and within the music so it sounds less complex and delirious, and the atmosphere has less depth.
Long tracks of blackened death metal alternate with shorter pieces of chanting over effects-laden drones, sound samples and ambience that border on the maniacal and the malevolent. After hearing the longer black / death metal stuff which can be very powerful, aggressive and deranged with hellfire guitars, thundering drums and off-key synth drone wash, but which takes second place to too much drunken monster voice rumble, I find myself preferring the short mini-opera dark ambient experimental pieces. These might veer close to B-grade horror-movie camp but at least they're only intended as interludes so they don't take up much space, no more than four minutes at most. As the album progresses, the histrionic opera camp element increases and the blackened death metal element with the dark demented dissonant sound becomes part of the background along with the orchestral synth melodies which are frankly very ordinary. Some almighty conflicts are going on with the to-ing and fro-ing between various demon monster camps but without distinct chunky riffs and sharp savage melodies to push them along, the long songs become monotonous and repetitive.
Though the music is strong, energetic and full of savage aggression, and there are passages of sheer scrabbling guitar-chord insanity, too often it is repetitive and memorable riffs and melodies are lacking. Too often the music takes a back seat to the death metal vocals which rarely rise above crushed-rocks-in-the-throat gargle. The flippy blast-beat drumming needs more thunder and less competititon from the synthesiser orchestras. The album's highlights really are the short ambient works of mind-bending noise madness and mayhem, and the best of these tracks are tracks 2, 4 and 6 as examples of what U.N.C.U.L.T. are capable of if they could leave behind the cartoon death metal stereotypes.
I'd say these U.N.C.U.L.T. worshippers will escape the worst punishments after completing their ritual but on future recordings that ritual is going to need a lot more original and savage hell-raising music able to summon Satan and celebrate his presence.

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