"If there’s one thing that we hate, it’s being compared to Korn or Tool. We’re far better than that.” The mystery of the 90s band that almost gave the UK an answer to Limp Bizkit - then vanished without a trace

British metal was in fine form in the early 90s. While it might not have had the commercial clout of grunge, thanks to the efforts of Paradise Lost, Carcass, Napalm Death, Cradle of Filth and many others, the little island nation that could showed that it was capable of going toe-to-toe with whatever the US was putting out, creatively at least. Then nu metal happened.

The rise of metal’s most divisive movement changed the focus of genre solely to what was happening Stateside. British bands wouldn't claw their way to any parity with their US peers until the success of Bring Me the Horizon and Bullet For My Valentine over a decade after nu metal's year-zero. For a few years, being a UK-based metal band was tough going.

For those that can recall those years in the trenches, there was one band that many Brit-metal fans truly believed could take the fight to Korn and Limp Bizkit. They had the look, the charisma and a sound that connected to the metal zeitgeist.

“The band from our scene that we really looked up to was Pulkas,” recalled Karl Middleton, vocalist of fellow beloved British band Earthtone9, to Metal Hammer in 2017. “They had this very British, almost Killing Joke, kinda vibe.”

London quartet Pulkas arrived seemingly fully formed in the late 90s. Their 1998 debut album Greed had fans and critics heaping praise on them and then, abruptly, they were just gone. Never to return. What happened to Pulkas has been an enduring mystery. Isn’t it about time someone found out?

“Good luck with that!” Chortled former Murder One and Medulla Nocte vocalist Paul Catten to Hammer in 2017 when asked of Pulkas’ whereabouts. “I don’t think anyone really knows where they’ve gone. Shame. Great band.”

Here’s what we do know. Pulkas formed in 1995, consisting of vocalist Luke Lloyd, guitarist Martin Bourne, bassist Jules McBride and drummer Rob Lewis. They were signed by Earache Records on the strength of their first demo tape and played just 10 gigs before they got signed. Earache Records founder Digby Pearson recalled on his blog in 2007, “It was obvious that the band could easily go onto great things.”

“We never hassled Earache for a deal,” McBride told Kerrang! In 1997. “They just called us up straight off and told us they wanted us. Next thing we’re in this huge old church, recording our album!”

“We had offers from other places,” continued Lewis. “It’s always a temptation when someone waves large amounts of cash under your nose. But your integrity just gets fucked somewhere down the line, we’re not into that.”

Even prior to releasing any material Earache pushed the band hard. Pulkas shared bills with the likes of Godflesh, Bruce Dickinson, Napalm Death and were added to an Earache tour with labelmates Dub War and Misery Loves Company. They instantly began to win fans; frontman Lloyd was a fearsome and enigmatic presence onstage, often performing with his windbreaker jacket zipped up to his chin, even in the sweatiest venues. Their groove and “quiet-quiet-loud" dynamics saw them gain favourable comparisons with the cream of US metal at the turn of the millennium. Not that they cared much.

“If there’s one thing that we hate,” Sniffed McBride to Kerrang! In 1998. “It’s being compared to Korn or Tool, we’re far better than that.”

Lewis would describe their association with nu metal as “Lazy”, adding: “Nu metal... it’s just an American thing to me.”

Debut album Greed, recorded with Machine Head and Fear Factory producer Colin Richardson, was released on April 27, 1998. In their 4-star review, Kerrang! called it, “A slice of urban decay that could easily start a revolution.”

In a 9/10review, Metal Hammer opined, “Remember the first time you played Reign In Blood or Burn My Eyes? Well there’s a new record to add to that hallowed list.” Their critics placed it fourth on the best albums of 1998 beneath then-cover star acts Pitchshifter, Marilyn Manson and Monster Magnet.

Listening back to Greed today, it’s remarkable how brilliantly it still stands up. Lloyd’s quiet, sneering vocals that build to a scream beautifully compliment his band's throbbing grooves and dark atmospherics. Songs like Rubber Room, Loaded, Hippy Fascist and This is It could come out now and metalheads would be slathering praise all over them.

Pulkas toured Greed, playing with the likes of The Jesus Lizard and Will Haven. But within a year of Greed’s release Pulkas vanished. No official announcement, no clues as to where they were; they just ceased to be.

In 2002, three-quarters of the band - Lloyd, Bourne and McBride - returned, renamed as I:Am:I and announced a show at The Garage in London. That show never took place and I:Am:I vanished even quicker than Pulkas.

Since then, UK metal fans of a certain vintage will often bring the fate of band up as a matter of curiosity. Earache’s Digby Pearson was asked what happened to them on his blog in 2007.

“Sensing their greatness deserved better than the indie label they had just signed to, the band wasted no time in recruiting a manager who proceeded to shop them to major labels,” he replied. “Even though they were contracted to us for 3 more albums. They broke off all contact with Earache, so we were forced to spend 2 years wrangling via lawyers, defending our quite legitimate legal and moral position.”

For some time, that was the sum total of information regarding Pulkas’ demise. Until now.

“We were promised a lot of support for a UK headlining tour and a US tour supporting Biohazard,” drummer Rob Lewis tells us. “But Earache let us down. We got a big publishing deal and had a really big label telling us, ‘You get out of your contract and we’ll take you on.' It was very exciting, but Earache dug their heels in. We did everything to get out of it but nothing was good enough. We legally couldn’t be in that band anymore, so we just gave it up. It all fell apart and we were angry... even at each other.”

Lewis goes on to explain that Pulkas had even recorded a second album's worth of material, once again with Colin Richardson, that was just left to rot.

“Weird” is the way Lewis describes it.

“It sounded really good, but no one is ever going to hear it.”

Lewis wasn’t part of I:AM:I, admitting he had lost the passion at that point. He says that everyone else immediately realised that “the spark just wasn’t there anymore.” After the split, the members of Pulkas went around a decade without speaking or seeing each other.

It was chance that saw a reformation of sorts for two of the members. Lewis moved to Hastings and found out through a mutual friend that McBride had recently moved to the town as well. The pair reconnected and founded their current band, sludge metal crew Rustorm, in the late 2010s, “just for a bit of fun: no label, no pressure.”

One man that Lewis has been unable to contact since is elusive vocalist Lloyd, who went completely off grid post I:AM:I. Although McBride did bump into him in London recently.

“He just saw him crossing the street and called out," says Lewis. “He just vanished after the band, so it was a bit random. But at least one of us has made contact with him.”

So... could one of British metal’s great lost bands be primed for a comeback?

“I don’t think so,” Lewis ruefully replies. “I mean, no one has actually ever asked. If we got a reason to try and get the band back together then maybe we could, but we’ve never had a reason to try.”

Everything is crossed that they do, but even if it never happens, Pulkas will always be remembered for giving British fans a moment, no matter how brief, where we believed metal’s next superstars were right here on our shores.

“We did our thing, had our moment and no one can ever take that away from us,” Lewis says with a smile. “I can be thankful that we’ve still got people who randomly pop up and want to know where we went, I guess we were remembered. I feel good about that.”