Review of Urna - Sepulcrum MMVI

Many of us wish Halloween lasted 365 days out of the year, and some of us actually live our lives in such a way. Those of us who are still friendly with direct sunlight, however, must use other means in order to re-create that darkest of days anytime we wish by way of metal. Considering how much of a disappointment the new Blut Aus Nord turned out to be for me, the stumbling across Urna’s Sepulcrum MMVI almost felt like a predestined gift from hell itself from the very first listen, and has only grown in strength since. This is a beastly undertaking of the highest order, and one I shall not soon forget.

A fiery melding of dark ambient, doom, and black metal styles, this very long exercise in tenebrous despondency and hateful turbulence is insidious in its guile. Voices seem to split themselves in two in the middle of words, sounds fade in and out unexpectedly and with jarring frequency, keeping the listening experience in an amorphous state of incessant disarray, or so it seems. The truth is this is a well-plotted endeavor, which is as manipulative as it is disarming in its method of forcing moods upon the ear in a myriad of ways. Sepulcrum MMVI burns with pure hate performed with an extravagantly nihilistic, epic allure, stealthily unleashing one oxidizing track after another in a seamless flow of uninterrupted rancor. Such unmitigated loathing this disc brings, and such scornful ash left in its wake.

So very, very effective is this disc that an uninterrupted listen is almost too much to bear in one sitting, yet it’s the only way to be able to truly appreciate the bombast Urna set out to interpret. When ambiance and reverberation yield to a pure black metal attack, velocity is kept in steady check as tremolo and waves of calamitous percussion erupt like putrid gasses, hauntingly accompanied by unearthly screams, inhumanly guttural growls and an unexpectedly pulsing bottom-end. Repetition gives way to layers of contrasting rhythms, and turn abruptly to icy, lifeless riffs, which are entirely metal despite the higher aspirations Urna has for their vision. The production sounds like the works of demons, for truly hellish sounds pour forth with very little to intrude upon the full brunt of the power of this hulking, occasionally daunting enterprise.

This is not for the weak of heart, nor short of attention span. Sepulcrum MMVI is a systematic avalanche of dismembered body parts, limbs that have been severed by the exhausting, ominous scope and fiendishly brilliant premeditation of artists who believe in what they speak. The barely 2 year-old Urna brings the coldest elements of dark metal, and the most ponderous spirituality of doom together with formidably incendiary black metal, which can only be a very acquired taste even at its most accessible highlights. Pursue with caution, weaklings. For even though this may not be a landmark of innovation, it certainly is an intimidating toil to behold.

Release Details

Urna

Sepulcrum MMVI

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