Kulk: It Gets Worse

Since their excellent 2021 sophomore release, We Spare Nothing, the return of Kulk has been a much anticipated one.

On We Spare Nothing and their debut release, Here Lies Kulk, Norwich duo Tom Longdin (guitars/vocals), and Jade Ashleigh (drums/vocals) have taken the core principles of doom to interesting new places. Far beyond the meat and two-veg tropes that have flirted and infiltrated the broadchurch of the genre in recent years, Kulk bring a raw energy that has a frenzied, psychedelic feel about it.

At just over 23 minutes, on their third release, It Gets Worse, Kulk undertake a darkness that exceeds anything they’ve produced before. The long-form, hypnotic portals the band explored during We Spare Nothing and Here Lies Kulk are non-existent here, as Longdin and Ashleigh opt for shorter rackets that hit with immediate force.

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Like they did with We Spare Nothing, the band enlist Wayne Adams who once again proves a worthy ally; arguably the best in the U.K. underground when it comes to capturing raw tension within the studio walls and replicating it to tape.

While the bookends of It Gets Worse consist of manic soundbites that wrangle with the kind of chaos that underpins modern society, the first fully formed song arrives in the way of A Heavy Sigh. Oscillating between a form of primal noise-rock and bowel-twitching doom, Kulk harbour the kind of anxieties indicative of these times.

Out Of Reach follows and beginning with the lurching tones of glory-era Melvins, Ashleigh’s thunderous percussion rolls in, pushing against Longdin’s low end guitar rumble. Together, the pair create the kind of maelstrom that could very well move planets.

On Mammoth, Longdin is seemingly shouting through a force field rather than into a microphone. Again, it feeds into the nervous energy that is the bedrock of It Gets Worse. That same vigour feeds into Beyond Gone. Here, Adams stamps his mark from behind the soundboards, with sci-fi inflections that echo the work of JAAW. These embellishments serve Kulk well, tapping into the themes that reinforce this album: yes, it’s all turned to shit and the best thing to do is launch into orbit.

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Which is where Life Will Wait comes into the equation, but perhaps not in space. Featuring Pigs x 7’s Adam Skyes, this is cult-like campfire doom that escapes the clutches of a modern reality, with Ashleigh’s harmonies echoing the séance-like transcendence of Bonnacons of Doom.

It’s one of the many interesting turns Kulk take on It Gets Worse, and their end point is to a place few others in their sound world have travelled. Just like the themes that define the album, there’s a restlessness here that bubbles underneath the surface, with Life Will Wait being the inevitable powder keg. Again, it’s true of these times where keeping your head above water seems like a monumental achievement every single day. And while we all strive for more in a bid for some form of happiness or contentment at least, that point neither seems nor feels anywhere in sight. From its title to the songs itself, Kulk are right on all fronts.

It Gets Worse is out now via Human Worth. Purchase from Bandcamp.