UULLIATA DIGIR – UULLIATA DIGIR

(Andy Synn embraces the chaos and catharsis of Poland’s Uulliata Digir)

It was just last week when I commented that 2025 seemed to be off to a bit of a slow start – usually I’ve encountered at least one new favourite by now – but, wouldn’t you know it, it looks like I spoke too soon!

Bursting out of the blocks with the sort of wilfully unorthodox, genre-blending sound – grounded in the harshness and heaviness of Black and Death Metal, but equally influenced by dark Jazz and doomy drone, while also incorporating passages of post-metallic ambience and abrasively sludgy atmosphere – which defies easy categorisation (“Avant-Garde Extremity” is probably the best way to describe it) the self-titled debut from Uulliata Digir has quickly established itself as probably the best thing I’ve heard so far this year.

And, because of that, I felt like I needed to share it with all of you.

Now, one of the best things about this album is how chaotically unpredictable, yet cleverly compelling, it is, with every unexpected twist and turn, every sudden shift in dynamic or direction, initially taking you by surprise yet subsequently feeling like the most natural and organic progression in hindsight.

Of course, I’d like to try and maintain some of those surprises for the listener, which perhaps makes reviewing a little tricky – comparisons to the likes of Imperial Triumphant and Hail Spirit Noir, Oranssi Pazuzu and Obscure Sphinx, and even a touch of Ingurgitating Oblivion, are useful, no doubt, without being either definitive or exhaustive – but I’m going to do my best to give you a taste of what Uulliata Digir sound like here, without spoiling the whole meal.

And perhaps the best way to do that is to focus entirely on massive, multi-faceted opener “Myrthys” – which contains such an extravagant smorgasbord of elements and ideas in its fifteen-and-a-half minute run-time that I’m sure I could easily write a review twice as long about this track alone – and leave the rest of the record to your imagination (and, hopefully, your future listening pleasure).

Beginning with a series of lambent, lilting chords – aided and abetted by some riveting rhythmic additions from both the bass and drums – the first few minutes of “Myrthys” cultivate a mesmerising mystique (enhanced by a series of sombre, brassy notes of tremulous trumpet) whose hypnotic slow-burn steadily grows harsher and more discordant as the minutes drift by, building up the tension with a mix of snarling, growling menace and eerie, unsettling cleans (courtesy of dual-vocalists Michał Sosnowski and Julita Dąbrowska) so that by the time the hammer finally drops your nerves are likely to already be frayed to the breaking point.

But even as the heaviness increases – both guitars and bass blooming with distortion-drenched weight, with the drums laying down a booming backbone of heaving, hammering beats – the sinister strangeness of the band’s sound remains unchanged, from the evocative layering of ugly growls and piercing ululations to the thrillingly complex percussive patterns provided by drummer Krzysztof Kulis (who then switches up his style seamlessly to guide the song’s transition into an altogether doomier, jazzier mode).

Subsequent shifts – moving from the depths of moody, ambient minimalism to extravagant heights of bombastic, metallic maximalism – only further reinforce the impressive scale and scope of the band’s auditory ambitions (with a reminder that this is just the first track), such that by the time the song reaches its brutishly baroque climax (all gargantuan, doom-laden guitars, grotesque, blackened grooves and an array of tortured, trance-inducing vocals) you may well wonder how much further the album can go.

And yet there’s still so much more to discover – which I’m going to allow you to experience on your own – over the course of what may well be the first truly great album of 2025.