Debut albums are always fun to check out, even more so the ones that pop up on Bandcamp unannounced by flowery PR tongue jobs and instead surrounded by some positive community buzz. I checked out Uulliata Digir on a whim, one cold Monday evening while half asleep from work. Little of what I was hearing was taken in because of this, but the vocals pierced through the tired mist of my blue-collar existence. See, Uulliata Digir features two vocalists, and I can best describe the dynamic between them as a metal-ized Dead Can Dance, if you can imagine Brendan Perry delivering massive death metal roars. In select spots, the new age chanting also takes on a more Nordic-leaning tribal air that brings them closer to the dynamics you can find on a Heilung album. Not to be outdone, the music backing this up is equally otherworldly. The three long form tracks (with two short intermissions) build on a base of blackened psychedelic metal reminiscent of Oranssi Pazuzu, winding along until they build into huge climaxes. These long builds step in and out of more atmospheric sections that utilize languid dark jazz-sectios like the ones you can find on a The Lovecraft Sextet album (and some people have compared them to Imperial Triumphant, which I can maybe see if I squint a bit). Completing the package, sludgy, slow moving death metal shifts the tempo up and propels this 38-minute chimera forward. Did you get all that? Took notes? Don’t worry, listening to Uulliata Digir is much easier than this bingo card of avant-garde makes it all sound.
On paper it sounds like Uuliata Digir should be quite a mess, but a few structural choices and details makes it work as more than the sum of its parts, starting with the overall album composition. Songs this long are unwieldly for most bands, but the focus on long builds over three tracks is a good choice. As the album doesn’t break 40 minutes, the many ideas here don’t overstay their welcome and nothing feels like padding. Opener “Myrthys” is probably the weakest track since it spends a long time on building up its main moments. These moments are still well earned when they arrive, and the song leaves an impression. The production is dynamic, and most of the band members get to shine. The beating heart of Bartłomiej Kerber‘s (ex-Heresy Denied) thick bass and Krzysztof Kulis‘s (ex-Struggle With God, ex-Smoła) pounding tribal drums are well felt, giving weight to the more intense metal while also adding their color to the softer building moments. Marcin Tuliszkiewicz‘s (In Twilight’s Embrace, Faust Again) guitar often helps with the build up of the songs and weaves in and out with Magdalena Andrys‘s trumpet playing in polyrhythmic patterns. Not to worry, the guitar still gets to shred and play around with dissonant, undulating riffs (“Omni Dirga”). I take time to mention all the members of Uuliata Digir because for a band offering up their debut, the result is amazingly cohesive. It speaks to the musicians’ experience. It’s nice to listen to a band where every member seems to know when to take the spotlight and when to back up the overall compositions.
Finally, special mention has to go to the vocal dynamic between Michał Sosnowski‘s (Blast Rites) harsh vocals and Julita Dąbrowska‘s clean vocals. Sosnowski sounds like a lion released from a cage, ready to tear apart stupid gladiators who dare come his way, and his supporting moments with Dabrowska offers a superb “beauty & the beast” feature this side of Draconian. But the crowning jewel of Uulliata Digir lies in Dabrowska‘s vocal performance. What seals the deal is the creativity with which she effortlessly seems to transition between whispering shamanic witch-mode, shrieking siren-mode and mourning tribalist-mode. There are parts of each song where it sounds like she pushes her voice to its absolute limit, tearing it apart with desperate emotion. It’s pleasingly painful to hear at the same time as it adds the same kind of color to the music as the languid brass section, elements that would make Uulliata Digir a lesser experience if left without. Ultimately I was a bit wary of dropping a high score on an album that lies squarely in the “grower”-category, but with time Uuliata Digir is proving to grow indeed. While this debut doesn’t dip its toes so heavily in the avant-garde as you could think, that’s perhaps for the best as it instead reaches for structure, cohesion, brevity and intent. I can’t wait to taste whatever weird drinks this mysterious blackened jazz-club comes up with next.
