Urne’s 2021 debut Serpent & Spirit rejected the instant gratification of a catchy hook in favour of music that took time to reveal its appeal gradually. Perhaps unsurprisingly then, their heady brew of doom, sludge and classic metal flew under the radar of the mainstream, though it certainly earned kudos amongst certain sections of the underground rock cognoscenti. Most notably, Gojira’s Joe Duplantier bigged them up to K! back in February – and he’s gone one better by producing this excellent second album in his Brooklyn studio.
Very much rising to the occasion, the London trio have crafted an album that sounds huge, mixing gutsy riffage and grandiose prog sensibilities in a way that both reinforces and expands the strengths of its predecessor. There’s a striking confidence at play, as demonstrated by the presence of not one but two eleven-minute tracks, both justifying their duration in utterly convincing manner. There are even moments of relative accessibility like the Metallica-adjacent chug of The Burden or the soulful chorus of opener The Flood Came Rushing In.