EP REVIEW: The Mountain of Gold – URNE
HANG THE BASTARD stood as one of the shining lights of the UK underground. Their last show at Damnation Festival in 2016 marked the end of a band that had, over nearly a decade, carved out a solid niche within the overall UK scene. Thankfully, although HANG THE BASTARD are no more, we’re still able to get new music from the men behind that band; two of the former members, Joe Nally and Angus Neyra, and accompanied by drummer Richard Wiltshire have come together, ushering in a new band, URNE. This band takes the hard rock sensibilities of HANG THE BASTARD and adds a very liberal dose of sludge and doom metal, culminating in perhaps one of the most impressive and captivating debut records of the year.
The EP’s opener, Dust Atlas, is a fairly mid-paced affair with tar thick rhythmic passages and an undeniably infectious groove. This is an incredible opening track from URNE, with a variety of musical styles thrown into the mix, from sludge to straight up hardcore, with some impressive vocals acting as the focal point for the vast majority of this anthemic and grandiose riff based juggernaut. It’s a fantastic opening offering, although at points it feels as though the band could have been slightly more adventurous with their musicianship.
The Lady & The Devil has a little discordance about it, guitar wise, with some solid drumming backing up this monstrous riff. The music is solid, and complements the haunting vocal delivery perfectly. This is a far more grandiose track than the one that preceded it, taking robust guitar, bass and drum hooks and imbuing them with an energy that help bring this track to life. There are some excellent flourishes through into the fray, including an impressive guitar solo and a great bass line towards the songs closing moments, meaning that this track significantly raises the bar for the last track on the record.
The third, self-titled track on the record is a very forceful and aggressive track that injects a great amount of musical prowess into the mix, whilst still utilising on an amazing groove to carry the music. The vocals are far more emotive and varied than on the last two offerings, providing plenty of brilliant hooks of their own into this song. This is a decidedly more thrash based track, with some dancing lead guitar lines providing the bulk of the main hooks on the track, without resorting to focusing on just rhythms and drumming patterns. This stands as one of this record’s many highlights as a result. With The March Towards The Sun, URNE close the EP in solid fashion. This is a far more melodic affair, with some inspired and catchy guitar hooks grabbing your attention right out of the gate. Couple this with thunderous drumming, dense bass lines and vicious, acerbic vocals, and you’ve got an excellent track that really stands apart from the tracks that came before it. This is a much lengthier affair than the first three tracks, which tended to be more straight forward, punchy three or four minute offerings. Luckily, URNE are able to insert a plethora of different ideas into this one, meaning that this track is fully engrossing up until its final note.
This, as far as a debut EP goes, is pretty good. There are points when it feels quite restrained, and you get the feeling that the songs would have been improved if there had been a few more riffs added to proceedings. Nonetheless, this is a great record that shows a lot of promise for future music, and it’s got a great production and some really impressive musicianship. If you are a fan of HANG THE BASTARD, don’t go into this expecting to hear something like HANG THE BASTARD 2.0. It will be incredibly interesting to see what URNE does next, and if they continue creating music like this, they’ll go far.
Rating: 8/10
The Mountain of Gold is out now via self-release.
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