Review: URNE – SERPENT & SPIRIT

Style: Sludge Metal (mixed vocals)
Review by: Callum
Country: United Kingdom
Release date: June 29, 2021

As is the case with most music featured in this blog, it’s difficult to nail down a specific genre to categorise the bands we review; this is often an attribute of what makes bands progressive. URNE is no different as their latest release tends to centre around sludge à la Mastodon and Baroness but drifts unexpectedly into hardcore and post-gaze, and many of the riffs are tinged with classic thrash. Regardless of genre, the important message to get across is that this band is an absolute riff factory. Often, records have those especially memorable, impactful, or simply stank-face inducing riffs on every other track, SERPENT & SPIRIT, however, has multiple in every single one. It helps that each track is fairly long, which allows for a bit of space to include more than one beastly passage to stand out from another.

Take the opening track for example. The quintessentially Baroness harmonised guitars and powerful major chords in the intro lull one into a false sense that the album will be grand, triumphant and uplifting. However, these expectations are quickly dashed as the palm muted triplets crash in and Joe Nally’s tormented vocals cry that ‘the devil speaks to me through my dreams’. The palm mutes are stretched and squeezed in a sequence of equally crushing, distorted rhythms along with false stops and starts that add an element of complexity to the music. By the first lifting of distortion at the midpoint of the track, the band have already hit you with four or five riff variations that brilliantly transition between each other while the tortured vocals are consistently belted over the top. The relatively calm midsection showcases the band’s dynamism as well as the clean side of the vocals. While not perfect, Nally has a unique clean tone reminiscent of Brann Dailor (Mastodon) and Toby Driver (Maudlin of the Well/Kayo Dot) that serves as a nice respite from the dominant roaring on much of the record. His hardcore, Converge vocal style is fittingly aggressive and highly impactful but can be the slightest bit fatiguing by the end of long unbroken passages.

Speaking of breaks from vocals, “MEMORIAL” is an entirely instrumental track which features the smattering of thrash aforementioned. There are subtle but unmistakable parallels with Metallica’s characteristic harmonised guitars, down-picked chugging, and solo bass over a simple cymbal groove; particularly “To Live is to Die” and “Orion”. However, there are also heavy Crack the Skye parallels in the spacey, groovy nature of some of the lighter melodies and the dizzying lead guitar section met with tempo changing drums at the midpoint. While these parallels exist, URNE are consistently churning out gold standard riffs with a flavour all their own.

The counterpart track, “MEMORIAL: SING ME TO REST” is yet another illustration of the band’s ability to incorporate different and surprising styles on an already bustling platter. This post-metal song seemingly comes out of nowhere yet is oddly fitting as a penultimate track. The shoegaze-y build up to the hard-struck chords into the eventual blast beats is very well executed and indicates a strong potential for the band to excel in more songs of this style if they should so choose.

The remaining tracks on the album more or less stick to a core sludge metal style, still with the same riff ingenuity displayed throughout. “DESOLATE HEART”, in addition to having a phenomenal main riff, features more great examples of clever transitions between passages. The quickly palm muted chugs that develop out of the track’s second emotive guitar solo get slowly drawn out into a dirty, sludgy version of the same riff. Writing like this is highly effective and shows a great attention to detail. “MOON AND SKY” features very intense vocal delivery in addition to more unique clean singing. Some of the riffs sound similar to Trivium in this track, although when the salt shaker comes in it immediately conjures thoughts of Mastodon’s Once More ‘Round the Sun.

There isn’t anything that I have severe complaints about in this record; merely miniscule nit-picks. The drums are well executed but the kick and toms sound very boomy and distant. Perhaps this is suited to the overall sludgy sound but it was something difficult for me to ignore. Furthermore, the tracks are generally quite long, which makes for a long album. As I mentioned, the tendency for the harsh vocals to become fatiguing at points perhaps means some of the fat could have been trimmed here and there. “THE PALACE OF DEVILS & WOLVES” repeats itself slightly for example, and the short “ENVY THE DEAD” doesn’t add much other than a bit of a different palm desert rock, Queens of the Stone Age feel.

The key idea here is if you like stomping, grooving, head-banging, heavy riffs, this album has something for you. There’s a lot of depth, and a bit of sparkle here and there that keeps things dynamic and lively. I’m definitely invested in this band and interested to see where they take their sound next. Whether that be faster and heavier into modern thrash style, proggier along a similar trajectory to modern Mastodon, or continuing to evolve their own style where metalgaze anthems aren’t the only surprise in store for listeners.

Recommended tracks: MEMORIAL, DESOLATE HEART, SERPENT & SPIRIT
Recommended for fans of: Mastodon, Metallica, Converge, Black Peaks
Final verdict: 7/10

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Label: Candlelight Records – Bandcamp | Website | Facebook

URNE is:
– Joe Nally (bass, vocals)
– Angus Neyra (guitar)
– Richard Harris (drums)