Some invitations are too good to pass up. While metal lore dictates that making a literal deal with the devil is the ticket to becoming some sort of genre hero, there are surely easier ways. For London-based URNE, it was by putting out a barnstormer of a debut to attract the attention of Joe Duplantier, still no mean feat, that’s for certain.
When bassist / vocalist Joe Nally and guitarist Angus Neyra left London cult band Hang The Bastard, who dabbled in the most solid of sludgy tones with (alright) black metal vocals, the duo wanted to focus more on the progressive metal side of things. Recording with Conan’s Chris Fielding placed their modern representation of post-metal on the UK map, even if their name is the Germanic version of Urn that “to the rest of the world [it] does look like Urine!”. The only way was up from there, in real terms ascending to the production desk of the Gojira frontman, who adored debut Serpent & Spirit so much that he had to capture their follow up. On A Feast On Sorrow, the collaborators have duly honed in on the dark, melodic technicality that the three piece brings, in such a barrage of forceful noise that their strip-backed line up is a marvel.
When you want ‘80s era thrash, it’s here immediately on The Flood Came Rushing In, first the speedy kind then strutting into groove with many virtuoso centrepieces; Neyra pulls out nifty riffs or champions the metal solo as seldom, sadly, do. Throughout the course we’re brush-stroked with agonising yells from Nally that drift into melodic singing when the right time hits. His emotional rage stems from the strife of losing family members to disease and old age, matched by half-rasps reminiscent of Duplantier himself that scream to the heavens: “our hearts will be the same!”.
Fittingly, with bells tolling the entrance of To Die Twice, the macabre trope shows URNE at their most existential. The doomy discord beckons us into URNE’s tumultuous world where we’re forced to confront the idea of “what will die first?”, all the while James Cook’s snares and cymbals majestically lumber into mesmerising double-kick play. Governing the course, his rhythms drop in and out of turtle-necking bops to swampy chugs and back again in a matter of seconds. The Burden is anything but its namesake, instead a tasty five minutes of metallic butter churning goodness that’s more gruff ‘n’ gritty than their enveloping, atmospheric stuff and the musical equivalent of a chuffing exhaust pipe. Becoming The Ocean makes its claims to be heard on the Bloodstock or Wacken main stages, all deft-defying lead licks and growling, while A Feast On Sorrow is a piano-led gothic akin to Opeth’s halcyon heavier days.
URNE feels most at home basking in their constructed epics, however. A Stumble Of Words is just the first 11 minute track here, a perfect mingling of the dichotic sounds that the band toys with: echoey chords that sound half-happy while the bass acts as the brooding monster. The longer song lengths allow for subdued folky acoustic passages that add taste rather than detract from the band member’s interplay, and it really gets into its main gears when we hear stomping drums to backdrop contorting chord sequences. Nally’s sung laments flourish in its refrains, while lightning riffage takes any conventional pre-chorus notions into oblivion. Even a shroud of black-metal mist appears around the seven minute mark that could mask as a cut from the latter-day songwriting of Nergal. Likewise, closer The Long Goodbye/Where Do the Memories Go? goes the whole hog into progressive metal territory and spotlights every evil and beautiful sounding trinket.
Following a lengthy getting-to-grips with life’s most open-ended question, URNE’s fraught journey to reach a conclusion is, instead, wholly satisfying. A Feast On Sorrow, as it implies, brings sadness in droves. But its musical delights help us and the trio to understand inner demons that haunt us when death hits, all through the brutal assault and euphoric passages that in the hands of lesser metallers would not come off so seamlessly.
For fans of: Conjurer, Alcest, Opeth
‘A Feast On Sorrow’ by URNE is released on 11th August on Candlelight Records.
Words by Elliot Burr
