The young German black metallers Ctulu hail from Northern Germany and with the 2008 release, Freie Geister, they attempted (quite successfully I must say) to raise Cthulhu from the sunken city of R’lyeh. Indeed, at the beginning of the title song Freie Geister you can hear the famous Lovecraft incantation: “Ia Ia Cthulhu Fhtagn, Ia R’lyeh Cthulhu Fhtagn!” Beware! Cthulhu might appear behind you while listening to this track!

Ctulu’s compositions on this album are very melodic and the very first track, Schatten, demonstrates this from the very first guitar riff. The second track, Donars Lied starts off in mid-tempo and slowly progresses into a fast-paced black metal song but still not as fast as the previous Schatten or the succeeding Freie Geister. With the fourth track we enter chaos! Pandemonium is a classic fast-paced black metal track with those awesome drum beats and definitely a head-banging one. I don’t know how a “bone dungeon” sounds like but Knochenkerker is definitely a bone crusher! (Knochenkerker, according to Google Translate, means Bone Dungeon) Im Nebel is also another track that establishes Ctulu’s music: fast-paced melodic riffs however with also those important slow parts that let the song breath. Lichtbringer is of similar characteristics. The finale of the album is the catchiest song on this record: Nemesis. It definitely sounds like a permanent track for Ctulu’s concert setlist.

Freie Geister, or Free Spirits in English, is a huge success for this band especially as it is their first full-length release. Although there are some weaknesses such as the production, it gives a more underground feeling and more importantly makes one see a bright (or foggy – to be true) musical future.

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