{"id":744240,"date":"2026-02-05T15:10:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T15:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/744240\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T15:10:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T15:10:11","slug":"tarlung-axis-mundi-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/744240\/","title":{"rendered":"Tarlung – Axis Mundi Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Vienna, Austria\u2019s Tarlung<\/strong> has been coughing up thick clouds of resinous doom and smoky sludge since 2013, when, after just six months in existence and having never performed live, they released their eponymous debut album. Now, with two additional full-lengths\u20142017\u2019s Beyond the Black Pyramid and 2021\u2019s Architect\u2014and some healthy touring under their belts, Tarlung<\/strong> braces to bring their fourth album in nearly five years, Axis Mundi, to the masses. With a catalog predicated on fair to middling sludgy doom, I was curious to hear if Axis Mundi would be the product of a Tarlung<\/strong> doing more of the same, or if the album would represent a defining \u2018center\u2019 in the discography and, per its namesake, link the Tarlung<\/strong> of old to the Tarlung<\/strong> that\u2019s progressing into the future.<\/p>\n

Tarlung<\/strong> remains devoted to the almighty riff, but with a sound that has become increasingly less fuzzy over the years. Guitarists Rotten and Phillip Seiler deliver massive doses of ear-drum damage via swampy, thick riffs bristling with taut, chuggy muscle (\u201cState Noise,\u201d \u201cBetween the Earth and Moon\u201d) and bluesy swagger (\u201cSwans\u201d), which serve as the bong water for most of these melodies to bubble up through. Seiler\u2019s chesty, Akerfeldtian roars are ever-present, which, along with Marian Weibl\u2019s beastly drum beatings, provide the excess sonic weight Tarlung<\/strong> has become increasingly known for. Purveyors of Crowbar<\/strong><\/a>, High on Fire<\/strong><\/a>, and Dopethrone<\/strong> will find warm pockets of familiarity here. Yet, Axis Mundi indeed signals a progression as Tarlung<\/strong> evolves its sound, introducing elements of refined psychedelia and vocal variation.<\/p>\n

\ufeff\ufeffAxis Mundi by TarLung<\/a><\/p>\n

Axis Mundi takes marked steps to set itself apart from the rest of Tarlung<\/strong>\u2019s catalog. With an airy, soft-strummed melody and some subdued, clean vocals to start, \u201cBurning Out\u201d evokes a feeling akin to lying alone in a country field, exhaling smoky clouds of organic green and staring at kaleidoscopic prisms of light as they filter through dew drops on sun-dappled daffodils. Even after the track picks up a little steam with a chugging riff that seems to build more speed than it does, and Seiler\u2019s growls return, the warm feeling doesn\u2019t dissipate. Follow-up \u201cSea of Drowned Souls\u201d continues down an experimental path, as its mournful melodies merge with clean vocals from Th\u00e9r\u00e8se Lanz and Casey Rogers of Mares of Thrace<\/strong> <\/a>in pensive passages that keep giving me Alice in Chains<\/strong> vibes. Particularly effective here, too, is the vocal interplay between Seiler and Lantz as each takes brutal swipes at the mic; Lantz\u2019s visceral, blackened screams serving as a satisfying counterpoint to Seiler\u2019s guttural grumblings. These two tracks really stood out to me and make up the core of my overall Axis Mundi experience.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Axis Mundi represents Tarlung<\/strong> operating at its most mature. Beautifully simplistic and wildly effective songwriting that, with repeated spins, did nothing but chip away at my critiques. What first seemed like a lagging back half continued to sink its claws into my brain. Before long, I was looking forward to the laid-back melodies of \u201cFull Circle,\u201d where Seiler channels his inner Matt Pike (High on Fire<\/strong>) to significant effect, and anticipating the very Crowbar<\/strong>ic pounding of album closer \u201cAxis Mundi.\u201d Running just thirty-eight minutes, it became easier and easier to hit that replay button every time. There are moments when the melodies seem to trip over themselves, like on the bluesy main riff of \u201cSwans,\u201d which gets a bit muddy at times, but not so much that it took me out of the experience.<\/p>\n

Fans of Tarlung<\/strong> are in for a special surprise, and if you\u2019re just now getting to the party, Axis Mundi is an excellent place to get started. I hadn\u2019t spent any time at all with this power trio before writing this review, and I can wholeheartedly say Tarlung<\/strong> has won me over. After a more than cursory dive into the bands previous efforts I can say without a doubt, Axis Mundi is the best Tarlung<\/strong> album to date. A slow-paced ride that delivers riffs for days and melodies that settle in, wrapping you in blankets of crushing warmth for one helluva satisfying experience.<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: 3.5\/5.0
DR<\/strong>: 6 | Format Reviewed<\/strong>: 320 kb\/s mp3
Label<\/strong>: Argonauta Records<\/a>
Websites<\/strong>: Bandcamp<\/a> | Facebook<\/a>
Releases Worldwide<\/strong>: January 30th, 2026<\/p>\n

\n\tGive in to Your Anger:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vienna, Austria\u2019s Tarlung has been coughing up thick clouds of resinous doom and smoky sludge since 2013, when,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":744241,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3936],"tags":[45789,10268,220057,11462,220058,36741,10273,220059,77,35363,208868,269,6080,104419,111596,220060,16,15],"class_list":["post-744240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-45789","tag-3-5","tag-argonauta-records","tag-austrian-metal","tag-axis-mundi","tag-crowbar","tag-doom-metal","tag-dopethrone","tag-entertainment","tag-high-on-fire","tag-jan26","tag-music","tag-review","tag-sludge-metal","tag-stoner-doom","tag-tarlung","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116018664400872349","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=744240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744240\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/744241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=744240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=744240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=744240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}