***"Rare is the occurrence around Hated One’s home fires that an EP earns a standalone review, but when twenty-five minutes of music is this spectacular, this entrancing, and this ferocious, then there is no other option than to shine a blazing spotlight upon it, no? Grimmer, darker, and heavier than anything Vukari has released before, Omnes Nihil contains four unrelenting tracks that seem to have fully shed any pretense of atmospherics or post-metal… and the result? Only one of the most killer melodic USBM releases that Hated One has heard in a long, long time. From stem to stern, nose to tail, Omnes Nihil is sheer perfection. Perfectly written, conceived, and (self-)produced (by bassist Spenser Morris), there really isn’t one thing that Hated One can find to fault with this astounding EP. Each composition has its own unique feel and mood, and yet all four mesh perfectly together to form a cohesive whole that is far greater than the sum of its parts. From the addictively riff-driven—and perfectly titled—opening track 'Despondent' to the cumbrous title-track 'Omnes Nihil,' and from the brusque offering 'The Weight of Dejection' to the epic closer 'Saturn in the Eighth House,' Vukari’s Omnes Nihil is a release that no metalhead should miss hearing, EP or not."—Hated One
LP $18.50
04/15/2022
***"Black metal is already a saturated genre, especially the super-atmospheric corner that VUKARI occupies, but the band steps out of that (and their own) mold with Aevum. The riffs are tighter, the blasts are more concrete, and the songwriting has become extremely emotive—any 'flatness' predicated by Vukari’s postmodern tilt gets destroyed just by just the sheer weight of the thing. Aevum is emotionally heavy, the most important kind of heavy, and that ethos has been woven throughout all eight of these medium-format tracks”—Invisible Oranges
LP $16.35
11/08/2019
CD $10.50
11/08/2019
***"Ambient black metal, post-rock duo VUKARI have released Matriarch, a concept album about a 'Slavic slave girl who is bought by a Germanic lord who promises her freedom and prosperity,' and while the concept sounds depressing, the album is an introspective, uplifting wall of sound that washes over the listener with texture and panache. Matriarch is filled with instrumental bits that take form in many different palettes; swaths of color blend from each instrument—whether it be the vocals, drums, guitars, or keyboard. There are parts which build up the intensity only to fall in the form of post-rock bliss; minute long tracks that break the harshness. Matriarch is another album that is breaking conventions of US black metal—utilizing ambient post-rock qualities to bring a sound together is something the US is known for in this genre, and, while other acts have their own agendas about black metal, Vukari is capable of paying homage to acts like Darkthrone, although Vukari shows more upswings of emotional range than down-in-the-dirt, wretched black metal." "Matriarch is an album is so very layered and beautiful. Vukari has set the bar high for ambient black metal, and with this concept album they have succeeded in telling a unique tale. Each bar of music segues into the other in perfect symbiosis; nothing is ever out of place or feels that there should be more added. Everything falls together in harmony. Matriarch is simply art, and Vukari is miles ahead of the curve; everyone else is...
LP $15.00
03/17/2017
***melodic and atmospheric black metal from the United States. Assuming, then, that “atmospheric” simply refers to a specific swelling, epic mood conjured by layers of rhythms and relentlessly climactic songwriting that corresponds to yet enhances distended pangs of neutral emotions, neither nihilistic nor depressive, then VUKARI has indeed succeeded in this endeavor. The postmodern textures surprisingly add much-needed depth to the sound, which one might not even realize until the disc finishes spinning, which tells us that these influences are so smartly blended in that the overarching picture isn’t meant to be dismantled for further inspection. Vukari’s sound is something much bigger, much fuller than that would suggest, and their sophomore release is a good exercise in how to create a musical journey that cannot be indulged in pieces, but as a whole.
LP $15.00
02/24/2017