Sulphur was spawned from the Norwegian black metal breeding pit called Bergen. Though named Sulphur in 2000, the band was already active under the moniker Taakeriket in the nineties. Their first production was under the name Sulpher though, being the demo A Relic For The Damned, released in 2000. After five years of silence, presumably caused by some hard times, in April 2005 another demo was released called Outburst Of Desecration (now re-released as 10 inch EP, limited to 500 copies). After signing with Osmose Productions they confirmed their new-born activity with this debut album Cursed Madness. Sulphur plays great sounding blackened death metal: well handled instruments, great songs and a good production. Guitars are low-tuned and melodic, without solo parts. Drums are militaristic and bombastic. The bass player is subordinate to the other musicians, playing along with the guitars without any surprising moments. On the background sometimes keyboards or sound effects are added to the music, creating a solid and atmospheric sound. Some weird haunting piano (keyboard) intermezzos take their turn sounding comparable to Arcturus, Morgul or The Kovenant.

There is a lot of variation on the album, mainly caused by pace changes, breaks, slow thrashy parts and the above mentioned intermezzos. A downside of the Cursed Madness album is that originality or innovation isn’t really Sulphurs strength. I recognize far too many elements that I’ve heard already with bands like for example (the newer versions of) Zyklon, Behemoth, Myrkskog and Belphegor… or even Satyricon (listen to the song ‘Master of Storms’). It seems a lot of former Norwegian black metal band members gained a sudden interest in death metal the last few years and started to play blackened death metal (well, it also happened before, remembering Old Funeral and Thou Shalt Suffer and the first Darkthrone album). In this case it’s drummer Vrolok, who formerly played in Aeternus (from 1993 until 2006!) and Gorgoroth. This lack in own style causes me to rate the album quite low. Since this is only the debut album, I hope for positive changes in originality in the near future!