photos by Liana Rakijian
US black metal outfit HULDER presents the new single, “Hearken The End,” alongside a video for the song. The track is the latest preview of the band’s impending second album, Verses In Oath, nearing release February 9th on 20 Buck Spin.
The hauntingly grandiose new HULDER album Verses In Oath, created during the dreariest cold months of the Northwest Winter, constitutes the most majestic, untamed manifestation thus far in the band’s journey of conquest, as new territory is put to flame and conquered by sword and shield.
Following a series of demos, EPs, singles, and the 2021 debut LP Godslastering: Hymns Of A Forlorn Peasantry, a pivotal 2022 saw HULDER release The Eternal Fanfare, a five-song mini-album, marking a new phase in the project’s rapid development. Further to HULDER’s auditory ascendency, the band set the live stage ablaze, touring widely in North America throughout the year and into 2023, which brought them to European shores for the first time as well. Spurred on by these noble victories, the ground was prepared for the immensity of Verses In Oath.
The ancient sorrow-filled melancholy and seething spirit that are the essence of “Hearken The End” permeate the entire album, by now a fundamental detail in HULDER’s identity where roots run deep in long forgotten soil. And whilst the slashing cruelty and torn flesh of “Vessel Of Suffering” and “Enchanted Steel” embrace a predatory barbarism, it is the joining of all those elements that places Verses In Oath in the timeless pantheon of black metal’s most strident lineage.
While black metal has evolved into myriad offshoots and subgenres to the point of incomprehension, HULDER is resolutely steeped in the genre’s destructive preeminence, rituals, and traditions, carrying the torch of its origins and heritage. And still Verses In Oath astonishes with the malevolent spirit of creative autonomy and individual freedom essential to reach the genre’s exalted heights.
Verses In Oath was tracked by HULDER in the Northwest – the drums recorded at The Underworld Studios and all other audio recorded at De Pestkerk Studios – and the mix and master were entrusted to cult legend Ahti Kortelainen of Tico Tico Studios in Finland, whose overwhelming list of credits stretch back decades to include Barathrum, Belial, Impaled Nazarene, and Moonsorrow, among countless others. The result is both unsparingly savage and wistfully evocative; black blood on white snow. The record was completed with photography by Liana Rakijian, illustrations by Mfaxii, logo by D. Andersson, and layout by Dan Fried. HULDER’s Verses In Oath is a must-hear for fans of Aeternus, Ancient, Satyricon, Hades, Enslaved, Warmoon Lord, Moonsorrow, and Tsjuder.
HULDER’s new video for “Hearken The End” was filmed by Liana Rakijian and edited by Hulder and Liana Rakijian.
Watch HULDER’S “Hearken The End” video now at THIS LOCATION and stream the track on all digital points including Bandcamp HERE.
Verses In Oath will be released February 9th on LP, CD, MC, and digital platforms. Find preorders and merch at the 20 Buck Spin webshop HERE and Bandcamp where prior single “Vessel Of Suffering” is playing HERE. Also purchase the new issue of Decibel with Hulder on the cover HERE.
Having been featured on the cover of Decibel Magazine in late 2022, HULDER once again graces the current issue’s cover alongside Devil Master, Necrofier, and labelmates Worm as they prepare to embark on the Decibel Magazine Tour 2024. Headlined by HULDER, the tour the tour will run from February 21st through March 18th, presented by 20 Buck Spin and sponsored by Pull The Plug Patches, Relapse Records, Night Shift Merch, Hell’s Heroes, and Magnanimous Brewing. See all confirmed dates below and stand by for additional HULDER announcements to post in the weeks ahead.
The Decibel Magazine Tour 2024 w/ Hulder, Worm, Devil Master, Necrofier [TICKETS]:
2/21/2024 Goldfield Trading Post — Roseville, CA
2/22/2024 Thee Stork Club — Oakland, CA
2/23/2024 Echoplex — Los Angeles, CA
2/24/2024 Brick by Brick — San Diego, CA
2/25/2024 The Nile — Mesa, AZ
2/27/2024 Empire Control Room — Austin, TX
2/28/2024 Trees — Dallas, TX
3/01/2024 The Masquerade — Atlanta, GA
3/02/2024 The Abbey — Orlando, FL
3/03/2024 Gramps — Miami, FL
3/05/2024 Hangar 1819 — Greensboro, NC
3/06/2024 Baltimore Soundstage — Baltimore, MD
3/08/2024 Underground Arts — Philadelphia, PA
3/09/2024 Brooklyn Monarch — Brooklyn, NY
3/10/2024 The Middle East — Boston, MA
3/12/2024 Preserving Underground — Pittsburgh, PA
3/13/2024 Grog Shop — Cleveland, OH
3/14/2024 Magic Stick — Detroit, MI
3/15/2024 Reggies — Chicago, IL
3/16/2024 Red Flag — St. Louis, MO
3/17/2024 The Bottleneck — Lawrence, KS
3/18/2024 HQ — Denver, CO
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