To be honest, we are thankful to a social media friend who we’ve stumbled upon the self-titled debut album of the Polish band Uulliata Digir. Out of nowhere comes a fascinating album that has unique qualities to be classified as a weird yet interesting and captivating form of avant-garde metal. Uulliata Digir has not only a magnetic force enhanced by a certain mysterious ambiguity due to of the unique band name (‘uulliata’ is Estonian for ‘without hearing’ and ‘digir’ is the Somali word for ‘beans’). The band has also a powerful clamour for attention both in terms of sound and the musicianship.
Uulliata Digir presents an original style, blending jagged guitar riffs with dark jazz, clean vocals, black metal shrieks, and death metal growls. On top of this, the band’s female singer, Julita Dąbrowska, creates a kind of “Beauty and the Beast” conversation with growler Michał Sosnowski, who is also active with the Polish grindcore band Blast Rites. The brass work of Magdalena Andrys (trumpet) adds an alluring, dark atmosphere throughout the album, similar to the compositions of dark jazz bands like The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble, Dale Cooper Quartet and The Dictaphones. The other band members are Krzysztof Kulis (drums), Marcin Tuliszkiewicz (guitars, synths), and Bartłomiej Kerber (bass).
Uulliata Digir kicks you out of your comfort zone. The Polish sextet pushes musical boundaries with mind-bending vocal work and innovative musicianship. This album will surely not be everyone’s cup of tea, but fans of bands like Imperial Triumphant, Dodheimsgard, Oranssi Pazuzu, and Diablo Swing Orchestra need to check this enthralling album out. Uulliata Digir weaves complex song structures with strange twists, collecting various emotional outbursts and shaping a fascinating avant-garde temperament.
