Ulthar embrace chaos in their songwriting, which can manifest as a sound that’s creatively unhinged or a sound that’s flailing without direction – sometimes all at once. This certainly held true for Helionomicon, the sister album to Anthronomicon that you can read my thoughts about here. Anthronomicon follows the same path, only in shorter segments. Of particular interest for these separate works is that they are written 50/50 by band members Steve Peacock and Shelby Lermo. The feeling of the music being directionless covers this entire album as well but the “creatively unhinged” part of the albums seems reserved for the latter four of its eight tracks, making me wonder if the album is split down the middle between the two writers, as Helionomicon was. I digress, but whereas sophomore album Providence felt more carefully written to provide variety and focus, Anthronomicon and Helionomicon follow an “anything goes” kind of approach that does not sit well with me.
What you will get out of Anthronomicon hangs on the question of what you appreciate about Ulthar as a fan (newcomers might want to start with Providence). If you are simply drawn to the chaotic sound itself, this is par for the course and there might be something to excavate in it after all. There are a lot of interesting riffs and whiplash swerves into brutal moments scattered across the album. The first half of the songs feature some bending melody in the background that sounds almost Sea Shanty-like in their rhythm (just listen to the opening moments of “Cephalophore” for this). Meanwhile, the second half flies off the rails immediately as “Astranumeral Octave Chants” enters the fray and reflects what I think this album should have focused on: balls to the wall chaotic intensity. From the lurching riffs in “Coagulation of Forms” to the split-second-from-going-off-the-rails riffs in “Larynx Plateau”, there is just a Death Metal intensity to the back half of Anthronomicon that flows better in its execution. And that is a shame, because when Ulthar are violently thrashing in the right direction they are deadly.
