ULTHAR: Anthronomicon And Helionomicon Full-Lengths From Blackened Death Metal Trio Now Streaming; Companion LPs To Drop This Friday Via 20 Buck Spin
Photoby Melissa Petisa
AnthronomiconandHelionomicon, the two new full-length studio offerings from West Coast blackened death metal trioULTHAR, are currently streaming in their engrossing entireties. The streams come in advance of the records’ official release this Friday, February 17th via 20 Buck Spin.
Anthronomiconembodies the continued progression ofULTHAR’s mastery over its art. From the opening blasts and twisting mania of “Cephalophore,”ULTHARbaffles with angular warped riffage, dipping in and out of various dimensional spheres. Off-kilter, multi-directional turns veer swiftly and violently as though about to come apart at the seams only to reshape again and again into ever more monumental forms. Each ofAnthronomicon’s eight tracks represent a fractious piece of a larger puzzle, each a maze unto itself that when taken together allows one to traverse this inverted surrealist conundrum.
Where its sister albumAnthronomiconpresents an eight-piece puzzle of labyrinthine tumult,Helionomicontakes those elements and creates two towering twenty-minute monoliths of radiant avant-garde immensity. Each track, appropriately titled “Helionomicon” and “Anthronomicon,” transports the listener on a vast journey of psycho-cerebral spectacle where hitherto unimagined landscapes take shape and strange intangible structures pierce the disintegrating firmament. Despite the substantial length of these two tracks, it’s never a tedious ride; each visits countless new vistas and perspectives across time. In essence,Helionomiconbecomes a synthesis of allULTHAR’s recorded output to this point across two climactic, ambitious epics.
AnthronomiconandHelionomiconwere each recorded in April 2022 at Developing Nations in Baltimore, Maryland by Kevin Bernsten and mastered at Signaturetone in Minneapolis, Minnesota by Adam Tucker. Each album cover is half of a larger original piece created forULTHARby Ian Miller (Stormkeep, Bolt Thrower, Games Workshop). Additional artwork was created by the band's Steve Peacock. Fans of Atrocity, Absu, Enslaved, Gorguts, Demilich, Krallice, Deathspell Omega, Voidceremony, Tomb Mold, Suffering Hour, and the like, pay heed.
AnthronomiconandHelionomiconwill be released on CD, LP, cassette, and digital formats. Find physical preorders atTHIS LOCATION. Find digital preorders forAnthronomiconHEREandHelionomiconHERE.
“There are certainly riffs aplenty in both albums, twisting and writhing like the surreal cosmic horrors the lyrics and artwork so viciously illustrate, which is really not a surprise if you’ve heardULTHARbefore. With these guys, you might not know what you’re getting, but you know what you’re getting…” -- Decibel Magazine
“ULTHARhave blown the doors off of the year with their two-album jab and cross and have put the metal scene on notice. They have long been an above average band with a unique set of skills, but what they have done here is something otherworldly.” -- Everything Is Noise
“ULTHAR’s ambition is remarkable with Anthronomicon and Helionomicon,’ two records that have their share of commonality but also exist as different animals that can survive on their own… Both records are great on their own, and their union as pieces recorded at the same time stitch them forever as heavy journeys you take one by one that leave you mentally gassed when you’re finished. -- Meat Mead Metal
“Each song is so different from one another and from death metal as a whole, that you never really know where it’s going, but it always gets more exciting as the song progresses. This album is so exhilarating to listen to… Somehow, the geniuses behindULTHARcontinue to break new ground in death metal to keep it fresh, exciting and different… one of the best death metal albums of the past five years.” -- Hellbound
