LIVE REVIEW: Urne @ The Cathouse, Glasgow

It has been a good few months since London trio URNE released their sophomore record, A Feast On Sorrow, to wide acclaim. This album delves into the array of emotions surrounding dementia and grief in a profound and unique way, allowing it to quickly garner praise for its handling on the subject and appearing on several Album Of The Year lists. With this release, URNE solidified themselves as one of the best metal acts in recent memory, having already achieved a fair following with their solid debut record Serpent & Spirit. Taking to the road, the band have embarked on a UK club tour alongside fellow London natives MOUNTAIN CALLER and Brighton industrial-metal outfit TRIBE OF GHOSTS for a slew of dates across the country to provide some nice and heavy end-of-year celebrations.

Tonight’s show in Glasgow’s The Cathouse starts off with quite a low capacity – a number that doesn’t grow extensively throughout this bitterly cold Wednesday night. Not letting this fact deter them, TRIBE OF GHOSTS fire straight into their set consisting of a hybrid of industrial metal and post-metal. A particular highlight is their single False Gods, with Becky Blaker’s melodic vocals soaring over the deep screams from Adam Sedgwick and the swelling bass lines. Tribe of Ghosts set injects the evening with an early dose of much needed energy with their fresh interpretation on the genre and a stage presence that will serve them well as they turn more heads on their upwards trajectory.

Rating: 8/10

MOUNTAIN CALLER are a change of pace for the evening, with their progressive metal filling the room and corridors of The Cathouse. The band are largely instrumental on their recordings, and tonight is exclusively geared towards this side of their material. The quality of their performance speaks to their ability to convey themselves through impeccable musicianship, dynamically shifting between slower tempo shoe-gaze moments and massive riffs from guitarist Claire Simson. Bassist El Reeve introduces their heavy new single March Of The Göll – a fantastic snippet from their new album on which she exemplifies her prowess with her instrument in perfect harmony with the excellent guitar and percussion work.

Rating: 8/10

Taking to the stage somewhat bemused after being informed that they need to vacate the stage early to make way for a club night, URNE waste no time and power through material from their two albums. Calling for the crowd to push forward, vocalist and bassist Joe Nally signals the opening of their set with the wails of “where do the memories go?” from The Flood Comes Rushing In, shifting the evening into a different gear and enthralling the modest crowd with their expert precision and hard-hitting new material. Earlier in the night, El Reeve from MOUNTAIN CALLER spoke highly about URNE and about how vocalist Joe Nally and company are some of the nicest lads they had toured with.

Nally’s enthusiasm and down-to-earth nature comes through during their brief pauses between the release of emotion that emanates from tracks like To Die Twice. He states at one point that he could talk more about the subject matter of the album, but instead nominates to keep things light for the time of year and let their music speak for itself.

While the new material provides most of tonight’s content, the opening guitar notes from Angus Neyra on Serpent & Spirit spark immediate recognition and movement in the crowd as the band jam out one of their most popular tracks. Drummer James Cook puts in a shift tonight on both the new and old material, but on this track his talent really shines through. Things don’t get more impressive than they do in the final moments however, as the band stomp and scream their way through the brilliantly cathartic The Long Goodbye/Where Do The Memories Go?, the 11-minute album closer from this years release. With this show, URNE continue to prove that they are as tight and impressive in both a studio and a live setting as bands come.

Rating: 9/10

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