Kulk – It Gets Worse | Album Premiere

Brutally ruthless whilst made out of love for those around us, the new album from Kulk is a brilliant dichotomy between callousness and compassion and we’re overjoyed to premiere it.

The third record from the noise-wracked doom duo formed of Jade Ashleigh (drums) and Thom Longdin (vocals, guitar), It Gets Worse is both an album and mantra that will no doubt resonate with many in a time of uncertainly and tension such as this. Born forth from a place of trying to find optimism in an age and culture where such hope is being purposefully undermined and where the rungs of the ladder out the mire are being fed to the forge fuelling our miserable state, the record is as cold and callous as the nature of modern living itself.

As the duo chug, gurgle and writhe through through sludge-stained doomscapes in the nature of Chat Pile, Part Chimp, Modern Technology and PigsX7, a primeval sense within their work becomes apparent, one that harkens thoughts of reverting to basic survival instincts in order to survive and endure. However, this is not a primitive record. If anything, this sense of hulking weight contrasts and compliments one of the most evident and exciting elements of Kulk; their sense of artistic and progressive versatility.

It Gets Worse may be a devastatingly heavy and an unnervingly bleak experience, but it’s a pummelling provided by hands most dexterous. In fact, to call this standard doom or sludge or noise rock would be limiting and not entirely accurate. These motifs may bind the album, but here Kulk borrow, implement and invent new elements from areas beyond the veils of such genres. One only needs to look at the stampeding likes of ‘Mammoth’, the cloaked ‘Beyond Gone’ or the thralling ‘Life Will Wait’ featuring Adam Sykes of PigsX7 to understand this. The end result is the sound of a band not just making overwhelming work because they want to, but rather they need to in order to truly portray the grim reality implicating them and the ones they love.

“This album is about the universal suffocating weight of hoping for more while navigating a climate where the apparatus for seeking it is being consistently undermined”, state Kulk on the record. “What it feels like to not only struggle keeping your head above water but to try jumping out from the deep end without loosing your trunks. It is selfish guilt and misplaced woe, desire is a distraction from the world at our feet.”

It Gets Worse is released May 17^th via Human Worth Records, with 10% of all sales being donated to the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust. Pre-order the record here, and listen to the record in advance exclusively below.