XUL — Malignance (review)

Album · 2012 · Death Metal

4/5 · 2019-07-17
siLLy puPPy

The metal universe continues to evolve and then splinter off into new sub-genera but then these distinct styles often cross-pollinate and a completely new distinct style emerges from the unholy union. There’s power this, symphonic that and then voila symphonic power metal! Well, same thing happened with black and death metal. While early death metal bands were distinguishing themselves from thrash, bands like Sweden’s Dissection were adding the blackened elements of Bathory and Mayhem to their punishing death metal compositions and a new (unofficial) genre was gestated into existence. Even within the blackened death metal scene there are two distinct styles. There’s the fusion where the black metal elements reign supreme and this style is referred to as war metal (also war black metal or bestial black metal) and the other being melodic black death.

Of the most recognizable blackened death metal bands of the melodic variety in the noughts has been Poland’s Behemoth whose distinct tirade of black metal suddenly crossed over into death metal turf starting with its 1999 album “Satanica” and continued rampantly up to 2009’s “Evangelion.” Another distinguished band that has perfectly mastered the Behemoth sound of this era and made it their own is the Vernon, British Columbia based XUL, whose name is a dead give away as to its primary influence is as the moniker is derived from the title which is a track off of Behemoth’s landmark 2005 album “Demigod” which featured the bands most aggressive and technical vital performances of its career before slowly drifting elsewhere due to Nergal’s health problems. XUL is one of those bands that REALLY delivers the goods with its 2012 debut album MALIGNANCE. The album was originally self-released and then found a much more fitting remastered re-release in 2015 on Redefining Darkness Records complete with completely different cover art.

XUL formed in the backwoods of Vernon, British Columbia, Canada in 2008 with the lineup of Marlow Deiter (bass), Lowell Winters (drums), Wallace Huffman (guitar), Bill Ferguson (guitar, vocals) and Levi Meyers (vocals). XUL deliver a no nonsense style of bombastic blackened death metal much like Behemoth dished out on “Demigod” with all the rampaging energetic drive, outstandingly sharp dueling guitars with sizzling uncompromising riffs and melodic squeal laden solos. The bass and drums provide the frenetic rhythm section with a ferocity reserved only for the most ambitious adrenaline seekers making to Possessed’s “Seven Churches” or the albums from Dissection as well as the aforementioned Behemoth era. The vocal rage of Meyers is a dead ringer of Neural at his most blackened and deathly and although the Behemoth comparisons convey a lot of the band’s overarching goal, XUL succeeds and sounding like more than a mere Behemoth clone. The compositions are similarly structured but engage more melodic bursts of rhythmic drive and frequent calming down effects of acoustic guitar segments.

The original 2012 album contained eight tracks but the remastered 2015 re-released offered the bonus track “Venomous Inquisition” which was re-recorded from the demo. All the tracks are monstrous powerhouses with none really standing out over the others. The flow of the album is as debilitating as the best of the old school death metal classics and the musicianship is as good as it gets. The melodic touches keep the tracks accessible but this is some of the most brutal sort of death metal you can experience however the blackened touches definitely give this a raw and underground feel. I’ve experienced both the original album as well as the remastered second coming and the newer one is definitely of a more professional production quality without sounding too polished. For anyone who loves the relentless blackened death metal of Behemoth’s “Demigod” era, then this will be right up your alley. It’s almost like the album they never released and redone by a band in another dimension. Faithful yet not a complete clone. Personally i love this sound. It’s catchy and dramatic for the entire ride.