photos by Liana Rakijian
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.
The first single from HULDER’s Verses In Oath, “Vessel Of Suffering,” is now streaming at YouTube HERE and Bandcamp HERE.
Verses In Oath will be released on LP, CD, MC, and digital platforms on February 9th. Find preorders and merch at the 20 Buck Spin webshop HERE and Bandcamp HERE. HULDER is prime for fans of Aeternus, Ancient, Satyricon, Hades, Enslaved, Warmoon Lord, Moonsorrow, and Tsjuder.
Verses In Oath Track Listing:
1. An Elegy
2. Boughs Ablaze
3. Hearken The End
4. Verses In Oath
5. Lamentation
6. An Offering
7. Cast Into The Well Of Remembrance
8. Vessel Of Suffering
9. Enchanted Steel
10. Veil Of Penitence
Having been featured on the cover of Decibel Magazine in late 2022, HULDER will embark on the Decibel Magazine Tour of the US with labelmates Worm, as well as Devil Master and Necrofier. Presented by 20 Buck Spin, and sponsored by Pull The Plug Patches, Relapse Records, Night Shift Merch, Hell’s Heroes, and Magnanimous Brewing, the tour will run from February 21st through March 18th.
HULDER states, “It is an honor to be given the opportunity to headline the 2024 Decibel Tour. The band will be playing a strong setlist with a number of twists and turns throughout and I am looking forward to this new chapter in the journey of HULDER’s live performance. I can only imagine that being joined by our brothers in Devil Master, Worm, and Necrofier will be nothing but a display of power and force. We shall carry the torch of the old guard and blaze a pathway for the new era.”
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
HULDER:
Hulder — Guitars, Vocals, Synth
Necreon — Bass
CK — Drums
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