I had not heard about Undulation once before the promo entered our bin. I simply picked Undulation because it seemed like the most digestible of the recent I, Voidhanger drops but then, doing quick research on the band, I found out that they had made enough waves in the underground to get featured in Revolver Magazine. What I assumed was their debut album was in fact more of a demo, produced by the band’s guitarist, and now re-released digitally on I, Voidhanger to coincide with the first physical release of the EP. Undulation got cred from the hipster-ish side of the metal internet, and they frankly do check out all the boxes. For a Death Metal Band, they are more emotionally driven and the female vocalist does a lot to sell it. The main vocal attack is a violent, painful shriek that sounds as committed as it is devoid from actual technique. It makes sense – The Executioner (which is the Pseudonym chosen by the band’s singer) had worked in an alternative Hip Hop project before. The reason why her vocals have a certain cadence and approach becomes much clearer once you imagine her fronting a group like Death Grips or Dälek.
The album as a whole is similarly unrefined. The album is severely underproduced, but it is not quite clear how intentional this underproduction is. It is clear that the band possesses a certain DIY spirit and a punk attitude is present in some of the riffing and writing, as well. Still, An Unhealthy Interest in Suffering sounds like it was recorded in a rehearsal room and then only treated minimally. While this possesses a certain charm, it’s undeniable that there would be more impact to the album were the production better. The cymbals do sound awfully washy and changes in production values between songs are noticeable – for example on “Failures of the Demiurge”, where the difference between clean vocal and clean guitar production to the actual metal section of the song feels harsh and not quite fluid. Luckily, Undulation can overcome these production woes somewhat by having an interesting interpretation of Death Metal. I was tempted to label the band “Depressive Suicidal Death Metal”, if only for how painful The Executioner sounds, recalling artists like Shining, Silencer or Lifelover. The writing lives mostly in the Death Metal realm, with Scandinavian Death Metal being a prime influence. Finnish undertones are present, as are slight Swedish leaning ideas in parts. The whole thing melds with the aforementioned Punk influence and the unusual Rock inspired Black Metal approach of bands like Forgotten Tomb to produce Death Metal that feels more desperate than we have heard in quite a while. Songs are structured to emphasize this, as well, often starting more lowkey then spiraling out of control to strangely groovy sections that seem more and more intense. This approach is replicated on the album scale, but doesn’t quite work as well here. The spoken word intro seems a bit superfluous considering that the first track proper has an intro by itself. The band is already varied enough and doesn’t need to artificially inflate their runtime, on a debut demo no less.
Undulation seems like a good pickup for I, Voidhanger. While the album is tame for the label’s standards, it does fulfill their requirements of being forward thinking and out of the box. Undulation are one of the more exciting newcomers in the Death Metal Scene and I hope their first album takes the time and gets the budget to truly make it pop.
