Seven in number they are, the Utuk(k) Xul. Evil spirits from the Babylonian underworld, messengers of Uggi, Lord of Death. This all states the Enuma Elish, the description of the Babylonian creation myths some of which can also be found in the mysterious Necronomicon. Amongst others, the being called LaVey put several of these myths in his Satanic Bible and encouraged his church members to follow his philosophy. With one of his speeches the album of the Columbian black metal band Utuk Xul begins its harvest for the corrupted souls of us earthly black metal listeners.

The music is all blasting chaotic devastation, quite monotone and sounds like a large rusty machine that hammers on without variation. This is mainly thanks to the ongoing, unfailing drums. Because of the bad production of guitar and vocals you can’t really make out a real song structure, though this does create a hateful atmosphere.

The length of the songs adds to the machinelike feeling, repetition without hesitation. The music is often compared to Marduks Panzer Division, though it is only the overwhelming part of the music that does remind of that, the other aspects of the music sound totally different. To me, the repetitive sound of the music isn’t really bothering though; it just isn’t very original.

Utuk Xul was formed in 1994 under the name Dies Irae and changed to the current name in 1997. The band itself consists of 4 members: Inferis Vobyscum (vocals), Gigim Maskin Xul (guitars), Fire (bass) and Tophel (drums). Salamander, a previous guitar player in the band, died several years ago. The band produced 2 demos: ‘The Law Is For All’ (1994) and ‘Dies Irae’ (1997), a split with Thy Antichrist called ‘Southern Legions Of Satan’ (2002) and the full-length CD this review is about.