Year: 2026
Label: Handful of Hate
Rating: 7 / 10
The INTUUL band, which exists since 2022, shares members with FAUSTBRUHIEL, a band that is very pleasant to my ear, but also with COLDROPE, the meaning of whose existence I still do not understand. "Harbinger of Sorrow" is the band's third album; I didn't listen to the previous ones, as they were released on dubious labels like Dark East Prods, which in itself is a serious reason not to touch them. Therefore , "Harbinger..." became my acquaintance with INTHUUL.
The album begins with a very good old-fashioned synth track, and then there is only solid cold black metal with tense intonations and a straightforward structures. The press release compares this to APHOOM ZHAH, and I agree. Indeed, the album is a bit similar to the debut of Mahiljou residents - "Eternal Pain". But the mood here is a little different - a kind of malicious melancholy, which is most clearly manifested in the track “Land of the Dead". It is provided by numerous lead guitar parts played by the member nicknamed Desol.
It is difficult to write more about the music of INTHUUL on "Harbinger...". It's something between the two bands mentioned above. COLDROPE has the same melancholic component, and FAUSTBRUHIEL has a tough, assertive “skeleton" of tracks. INTHUUL is a mixture of that, which is... I won't say "neither fish nor fowl”, but there's something missing from this album. Everything about the music is high-quality; professional even - I'm not afraid to use this word. And there's even a character of its own, but it's kind of fuzzy. There is always a feeling that they just need to press a little bit, and some kind of breakthrough will happen, and the album will “click”. Unfortunately, this does not happen.
Aside from Desol, other non-full-time members who played on the album are Void Serenity (keyboardist of the band OLD BATUR) and Terr (drummer of Vox MORTUIS and ZAKLON). Daemethar of VOX MORTUIS recorded and mixed the album. The last track contains some guitar parts from the Russian project MORT FROIDE (I don't know how it happened). Moreover, the vocalist and lyricist of INTHUUL is also from Russia (why? what for?), so their lyrics are in Russian and not too mature. I point my finger at a random place in the booklet:
И вот мой кровавый навет:
На дне реки моя мать,
На дне реки и мой брат!
Вот мой кровавый навет:
Я – боль!
Я – страх!
Я – злоба!
Я – смерть!
It'scomplicated to explain the whole text to English-speaking readers, bu “навет” means "slander". Either mr. Thoryvoss wants to snitch on himself for some reason, or it's some kind of multi-layer deep sense that I didn't understood. I don't know. But reading his verses is paiful sometimes. He's a much better singer, though.
The CD was released by Handful of Hate with a standard booklet that includes all the lyrics and photos of band members. Details on a video.
