21 Oct 2016

Urðun: "Horror and Gore"


Stupefyingly rotten and delinquent death metal from the island of black metal
These days Iceland is primarily known for their export of fantastic, naturalistic black metal, and with good reason. But apart from its glorious nature and vast black metal scene, the beautiful island also has a serving of horror and gore-laden death metal on offer.
"Don't go all out ear-splitting loudness while wearing headphones."

You know how some music was just made to be listened to at the loudest possible volume. Urdun's 2015 demo Horror and Gore is one such release, but here is a tip for you: Don't go all out ear-splitting loudness while wearing headphones. I know, I know, their riffs and the garage production job practically beg for it, but when the lead singer lets out his final scream in Morbid Funeral Ritual, or his vile laughter on Horror Spawn, your eardrums will rupture, your brain will explode, and you will die. Not worth it.

Urdun's sound is bone dry, and as such lacks a bit of punch, and the emphasis isn't quite there on the awesome drum rolls and tempo changes to really drive through the gruesome vitality of their songwriting.

Through each of the band's three tracks of old school death metal, the Icelandic group plays a losing hand of offsuit cards, and yet manage to turn the game and win in the end. Horror and Gore is miles away from being a timeless masterpiece, but it is wonderfully unpretentious and just straight up packed with ludicrously pedestrian death metal riffs played with balls-out confidence.

7/10


Released in 2015 by Signal Rex

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