Ultrapolar Intrusion - This War Will Have No End
Another release from Steinklang is ready to be reviewed. This time we´re dealing with another act from Russia called Ultrapolar Intrusion, with an album called This War Will Never End. It was released on the 21´th of October last year (2021) and has been released as a 100 limited digipack on Steinklang. 9 tracks, over an hour long.
I am not 100% sure what Ultrapolar Intrusion means, other than some sort of intrusion from the polar regions of Antarctica... maybe an earthquake-related thing?... I don´t know! Other than that, the album has been called This War Will Have No End. What war you might ask? Think we´re dealing with a symbolic title here since it has been released in 2021 (not 2022), so no... not about the terrible war between Ukraine and Russia.
The first track is called ...And A Yelling Witch Sat On Every Projectile. A very cool intro track with tons of atmosphere and almost religious undertones. Harsh industrial ambient noise in the tradition of Anenzephalia and Dagda Mor. Love the heavy and repetitive vibe here. Sounds pretty convincing so far!
The second track Armour Protection and Firepower Superiority offer high-pitched drones, and death-industrial vibes with some menacing ritualistic undercurrents. The thumping echoed rhythm of the distortion sound is quite mesmerizing here! A very good track here! Like I mentioned earlier, fans of old death-industrial would dig this!
The third track Without Feeling, Without Passion, starts with a humming drone. The sound of cannon fire adds extra tension to the mood. Russian spoken words are added, I don´t know what the hell he is talking about... but it sounds cool. Takes me back to early Laibach. The fire of the cannons begins to sound more...rhythmic actually (Sound bloody amazing!). I cannot point my finger down at anything boring here, everything is good here!
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The fourth track These Birds Sing With The Voices Of Flame... Scary beginning of a multilayered sound of a huge crowd of people (I think!). Chaotic and distorted screams of hypnotic feedback grab the attention of the listener. Additional looped waves of distorted sound turn the tension further on. Sofar is the hardest track on the album!
The fifth track To Use A Weapon kind of takes me back to the Grey Wolves. Messy but strangely structured at the same time. Lots of various vocal-based samples here, with some rather cool-sounding screaming vocals here as well. Not sure if they are vocals or something sampled from a movie. A sick track bound to disturb (just a bit!).
The sixth track The Knives Are Sharpened Thoroughly, sounds like a more... strange track. Almost sort of melancholic vibes going on. Are they sharpening their knives to cut unions maybe? A surprisingly down-beat track with a depressive mood attached to it. Excellent picturesque sounds going on, these guys are really good at the sample bit here!
I am gonna jump to the last track on the album called Trumpet Call (...The Teeth of the Dragon Are Already Thrown Into The Ground). Warped sound of trumpets praising the victory, or is it a victory? Doesn't sound like it in my ears. I am imagining this group of soldiers being praised for their heroism at some ceremony, broken and shattered after what they have been through. Cool sound piece with ceremoniously moments, a noisy version of Der Blutharsh if you please.
Lots of cool moments here, and what a masterpiece of an album! An album filled with surprises, all the aggressive titles offers depth and atmosphere... rather than boring and "edgy" power-electronics aggression without mood. I was totally surprised by this! A thoughtful masterpiece that I hope that people will listen to!
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