Wednesday, July 14, 2021

Udumbal - Sarcis (1998)


Belarusian experimental raw black metal/ritual dark ambient. The first song starts abruptly with a lo-fi flurry of drum machine blastbeats, tremolo-picked bass, and throaty rasps before dissolving into a chasm of minimal synth, then it's back to the blasting, a bit more synth drone, and it's over. It's a strange, disorienting introduction that sets the stage perfectly for the otherworldly sounds that follow.

Track listing:
1. Pathan
2. Anadinidhana
3. Rudra
4. Apakar
5. Chatal Hujuk
6. Abhitapa
7. Sarcis Lokagarbhagrham
8. Nirdeva


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7 comments:

  1. Thanx. Cool "my life in the bush of ghosts" sample on track 3 (or is it a remix?)

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  2. Thank you! I've been trying to remember what this band was called for years. I downloaded their second album/tape maybe 15 years ago and it blew my mind. If you haven't heard that one check it out. I'd been diving into black metal for a little bit at that point but these folks had a vibe that I hadn't heard yet. It felt like black metal but wasn't really. My hard drive crashed a long time ago and I've been wondering ever since what band that was. Never heard the release you posted but will be listening tonight. I had it stuck in my head that they were bulgarian, now I know that was what was leading me astray. Thanks again. Feels good to have this mystery solved.

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    1. So glad to have helped you rediscover this great band. I have heard their second record, it's excellent, of course. Have you heard Pragnavit? It's one of the dudes from Udumbal's other band. Really, really great atmospheric, epic neofolk, same kinda wheelhouse as Wardruna. I want to post it here but they love their sketchy pagan symbols a little too much.

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  3. I have not heard Pragnavit, I will check them out. Been spinning both of the udumbal albums a lot for the last week. Sarcis is great and Ahi Budhnya is a total monster, such an eerie record, definitely less metal and more industrial/dark ambient vibe. And yeah, I'm not sure I want to dig around and find out what type of shit these guys are into and I am unsurprised that they fuck around with sketchy symbology and what not elsewhere. Though apparently most of the Udumbal lyrics are in Sanskrit?

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  4. jeez this is really good, thanks!

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