Band:	Urne
Album:	A Feast On Sorrow
Style:	Sludge metal
Release date:	August 2023

01. The Flood Came Rushing In
02. To Die Twice
03. A Stumble Of Words
04. The Burden
05. Becoming The Ocean
06. A Feast On Sorrow
07. Peace
08. The Long Goodbye/Where Do The Memories Go?

Urne-ing your attention. 

Having become underground darlings off of the back of an impressive debut album, sludgemeisters Urne now have the chance to truly ignite the sparks of interest they have garnered for themselves. Not resting on their laurels, the band have put in the miles on the clock to promote their last effort, seeing them gel tighter as a unit, and find what works for themselves and their audience in the process. This preamble explains the leap in quality between their debut and A Feast On Sorrow, an album that is not so much the band's next step, but a large leap forward. 

With a potent mix of dark emotive songwriting and growing songwriting prowess, A Feast On Sorrow is just that, an auditory feast for the senses of anyone who pushes play. This cathartic release is as poignant and as it is powerful, giving listeners an experience that washes over you and pulls you out to sea, before thrashing you around in whirlpools and riptides, before you wash back up on terra firma once more, all the richer for the harrowing experience. 

Perhaps the most striking difference between the two albums is in their intensity, with the dark emotional energy (drawn up from Nally's experience of degenerative mental conditions in his close family) carried by the band members sinking into the music and crashing like a barrage of unrelenting large waves. The opening "The Flood Came Rushing In" is aptly named, as it eschews a gentle introduction for raw power, with Nally's almost primal scream mixing with the crunchy downtuned riffs of Neyra's guitars. "A Stumble Of Words" sees the band stretch their wings, with an eleven-minute epic that ends with some brilliant drum work by new member Cook (whose prior work in Malefice and Anterior have sadly been overlooked). 

The crowning achievement, however, is the Gojira-meets-thrash-while-shaking-hands-with-sludge of "The Long Goodbye/Where Do We Go When We Die?". A sprawling construction of riffs and patterns guides you through the projection of conjured mental images the music inspires. It manages to capture the feel and mood of the preceding tracks and tie proceedings up in a bow for listeners, while also giving the band a strong launching point for any future releases (this thing is barely out, and I'm already hungry for more!)

Urne's collaboration with Gojira's Duplantier, who handles production duties, is an astute choice that benefits the songs on many levels, none more so than by providing space and the perfect tone to Cook's drums, giving tracks like "The Burden" a Meshuggah feel that just adds extra variety into an otherwise broad church of influences. The attention to detail in the tone and mix may trade in some of the roughness and dirt that often typifies sludge, but this extra shine and polish more than makes up for it. "The Long Goodbye/Where Do We Go When We Die?" is pretty much a Gojira track in terms of sound and construction, with Neyra's guitars having the same groove and crunch. 

A Feast On Sorrow does contain an ill-fitting title track that breaks the immersion the album has created until that point, sounding like the band are trying to fit a square Mastodon peg in a round hole; it is one or two steps down from the level of quality the band has established up and to this point. 

A Feast On Sorrow is perhaps the most complete album of the year thus far, managing to appeal to those who enjoy music for its emotional capacity and for its musical qualities. Urne have set the bar, and I'll be extremely pleased if someone manages to top it.