Russian black metal collective Ultar—not to be confused with the also-excellent Ulthar from California—have one of the year’s most dynamic black metal records on their hands with Pantheon MMXIX. Over the course of seven songs, Ultar build emotive soundscapes that shift from welcomingly atmospheric to icy and biting.
Case in point: On “Au Seuil,” Ultar paint a snowy landscape that quickly becomes a blizzard on next song “Beyond the Wall of Sleep.”
“Pantheon MMXIX is a manifestation of our sacred connection with shapes and forces unseen by ordinary human perception,” vocalist Gleb Sysoev explains. “The record does not have a specific narrative thread, however, it does have a united concept. This album draws certain parallels between the problems of our modern world and the Lovecraftian phenomena, observing the obvious similarities between them.”
Listen to Pantheon below. It will be officially released by Temple of Torturous on March 29.