From the ashes of one great thing rises another; certainly it looks that way listening to the new EP from UK metallers URNE. The Mountain Of Gold is the debut release from a band featuring ex- Hang The Bastard members in vocalist/bassist Joe Nally and guitarist Angus Neyra. From the demise of their previous acclaimed outfit, the pair formed URNE, pulling in the rhythmic prowess of drummer Rich Wiltshire to join them. Distinctly different in sound but with the same level of craft and imagination which made their previous band so potent, URNE across four fierce yet melodically magnetic tracks suggest they have the wares to be just as rich a proposition.
Produced by Architects and Sylosis guitarist Josh Middleton, The Mountain Of Gold allows new single Dust Atlas to kick things off. As the first beats of Wiltshire firmly rap the senses, a slow drawling groove emerges to entangle ears. Its sludgy air is soon courted by a livelier rhythmic taunting which in turn drives the subsequent heavy/groove metal trespass of the already compelling encounter. Neyra’s guitar dances on the imagination whilst carrying a more imposing threat in its breath, a trespass which in turn festers in the opening throes of Nally’s vocals. As the song, he soon shows diversity as mellower and harmonic hues emerge in his tones, a move bringing an even greater blend of flavours and increasing invention.
It is a thickly impressive start with a touch of bands such as Mastodon, Exodus, and The Sword to it though hues in something far more individual to URNE; a trait just as potent within the following creative drama of The Lady And The Devil. Essences of doom and occult metal join the more classic swing of the track as it gets its instinctive groove going alongside the enticing clean tones of Nally, the dark brooding in his bassline a great tempering to the fiery air of again a track which masterfully and imaginatively evolves.
The EP’s title track as good as stalks ears next with its rapacious riffs and rhythmic grumble speared by a groove which instantly inspires the body’s movements. There is punk-esque irritability to things at first, one dismissed by melodic and harmonic radiance but only to the wings to return as the enthralling cycle repeats. Neyra shares his prowess with as much dexterity as the song has in captivating ears and attention; a potency all three share with their individual and united enterprise.
The March Towards The Sun concludes the release, the song featuring Middleton within its tenacious and untimed but deviously designed rock ‘n’ roll. The track is breath raw and antagonistic but equally precisely sculpted and seductive as another mercurial landscape of varying and animated metal consumes ears.
The Mountain Of Gold is a striking and more importantly rousing introduction to URNE yet you cannot help thinking from its power and potential we have heard nothing yet which is soon clear as being just as exciting.
The Mountain Of Gold is out now available across most online stores.
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Pete RingMaster 15/08/2018
Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright
The following Space To Breathe is just as swiftly imposing but inviting, taking a less invasive stance initially as its elements settle before uniting in its own ferocious trespass. Ash’s vocals again impress with their not vast but strong diversity within the emerging rich tapestry of sound. There are essences of bands like Spineshank and Static X to the track at times but equally it lusts after death and extreme metal textures with the same fervour and invention before the superb Split In Two uncages its own similarly but individually woven tempest. Harsh and melodic strains in both vocals and music make an easy union as the imagination in songwriting incites their drama, the track continuing the explosive success of the first pair ensuring that Hollow is already a riveting proposal.
The following Consume finds an even more predatory lilt to its voice and presence, extreme and melodic metal converging on ears and each other as again vocals challenge as they align their discontent. Dissonance soaks every note, syllable, and word; its dystopian coating breeding a conspiracy of enterprise and imagination within the track and subsequent album as proven by next up Devolution. Similarly woven yet individual in its character and rapacious attack, the song springs nu metal hues into its infestation of styles and the web of rancor woven from them. It too jabs and snaps as well as careers across the senses, the guitars alone weaving magnetic intrigue and adventure including a delicious groove as rhythms blossom in their predatory dynamics.
The following Tear It All Apart offers its own striking invitation, again a guitar making the creative beckoning before the band unites in an infectious rumble as imposing as it is magnetic. With wiry grooves and a compelling conspiracy of hooks and twists, the song soon has ears firmly locked in feeding on its cosmopolitan melodies and aggressive dynamics. As suggested earlier, there is something familiar about this and other songs yet it has a character and style to its roar which sets the band apart from most.
The excellent start is forcibly backed by the raw and concussive antics of Filth, the track a predacious confrontation crawling across the senses with ill-intent in its devilry. A touch of Devildriver lines the beast, the song almost leering and drooling over the listener with its nagging riffs and salacious grooves; guitarist Tomas Åkvik laying down sonic pheromones. Its primal temptation moves over for the blues lilted, stoner dusted Dead Man’s Song. As its predecessors, it is a web of grooved and rhythmic tenacity merging the familiar with wholly fresh imagination and invention. It did feel the least original proposition within the album yet it certainly emerged as one of the most captivating.
The excellent start only continues as The Project follows, its electronically hued entrance easily stirring keen attention before opening up into a rapacious almost carnivorous prowl. Metalcore meets groove metal as things intensify, many more strains of sound adding to the menace and imagination seizing trespass. Something akin to a fusion of Poison The Well, As I Lay Dying and Devildriver, the track gnaws and increasingly pleasures the senses, a success only escalating as the funkier throes of In My Jail tease and invade next. A beguiling web of styles and flavours, the track alone reveals the bold invention at the heart of Hampered and the expansive hunger in their sound which does not always get the chance to blossom as it might across the release. Here it is in full bloom, plaintive vocals and hungry sounds uniting in a ravenous assault of irritable yet severely infectious and predatory enterprise.
Best track honours are seized by Splitter next, the rhythmic entrapment of Gumpoldsberger and Stirner inescapable from its opening strains and only intensified by the rolling attacks and belligerent grumble of drums and bass thereon in. Spice loaded grooves and a general rock ‘n’ roll swing only add to the track’s might with only the clean vocals for some reason and for once not quite connecting. Nevertheless it is a storming encounter which alone could have sparked an appetite for the band’s sound but is more than backed by the likes of Aurora and Phoenix. The first is an atmospheric tempting with alluringly portentous shadows around a rhythmic resonance, a union beguiling ears and imagination before its dark side rises up in invasive riffs and sonic trespass. That also brings a melodic and electronic enterprise which suggestive mystique setting up the adventurous rock ‘n’ roll of the second with the added attraction of female vocals and melody encased endeavours.