EP 64 Single reviews Urne Desolate Heart ,TRENDKILL Obsession SPIRITBOX Circle with Me
New episode out now.
London metal trio Urne have released a studio video for current single Desolate Heart, taken from their upcoming debut album Serpent & Spirit, set for release on 25th June via Candlelight Records.
Capturing the atmosphere of the Serpent & Spirit recording sessions, watch the video to 'Desolate Heart' here: https://youtu.be/YA58tDXz-9Y
Stream 'Desolate Heart' and pre-order Serpent & Spirit here: https://URNE.lnk.to/SerpentandSpiritPR
The video footage was filmed by guitarist Angus Neyra during the Serpent & Spirit recording sessions in Oct 2020 at Foel Studio in Wales, with Chris Fielding on engineering duties.
Bassist / vocalist Joe Nally commented: "We wanted to capture the feel of the studio itself as its in such a remote location, and every day the valley would fill with fog and silence. At night the only light comes from the moon and stars completely unpolluted. It's an incredible place to record and we feel it helped set the mood for the album."
On 'Desolate Heart', Joe continues: "The song 'Desolate Heart' had been in the making years before Urne actually formed, but was never completed."
During the writing process for Serpent & Spirit, Joe found an old demo of the first few minutes of the track, and instantly knew it had to be finished. 'Desolate Heart' subsequently became the first single released from the album.
There is no single way that Urne describe their sound, it all comes back to one thing: heavy. There are shades of Metallica, Mastodon, Alice In Chains in there, hopping between sludge, tech-metal, doom, hardcore and anything else with a weighty heart.
Formed by ex-Hang The Bastard bassist Joe Nally and guitarist Angus Neyra after their former band called it quits, the pair already had a reputation for big, heavy riffs. Getting drummer Richard Harris on board in 2018, they gilded their new outfit with debut EP The Mountain Of Gold, which immediately marked Urne out as a formidable new metallic force.
Now, they return with debut album Serpent & Spirit. Heavier, wider and with an even higher ratio of killer riffs than the EP, it also comes with a weighty concept based around the central character’s struggle as he’s pulled between good and evil, darkness and light.
“I had a bit of a bad patch for a few months,” explains Joe, revealing the inspiration for the album’s lyrics. “I’m absolutely fine now, but I drew on those two months where I just wasn’t feeling great. I took that and wrote a story based about that. The actual track-listing is done like that film Memento, where it’s all in a different order. Maybe one day someone will listen to the lyrics and work out which order the story goes in.
“The album is called Serpent & Spirit. The spirit is the human experience, the serpent is the evil that tricks your mind. It’s about getting pulled apart and trying to find yourself within all of that. So it’s almost good and evil, and throughout the album it’s about a person getting pulled from the light to the dark.”
Due to COVID, the final parts of the album were written over Skype, before being recorded by Chris Fielding (Conan, Electric Wizard, Primordial) at Foel Studios in deepest Wales during lockdown. It was then sent to acclaimed producer Jens Bogren who handled the mastering of Serpent & Spirit.
Urne have announced a UK tour in support of Serpent & Spirit. Catch them on the following dates:
Wed 7th July - Bournemouth - Anvil
Thu 8th July - London - The Black Heart
Fri 9th July - Birmingham - Dead Wax
Sat 10th July - Manchester - Star & Garter
Urne are:
Joe Nally - Bass / Vocals
Angus Neyra - Guitar
Richard Harris - Drums
Urne online:
https://www.facebook.com/urneband
https://www.twitter.com/urneband
https://www.instagram.com/urneband
Desolate Heart we kick off the show with an absolute tune, at just over 8 mins Desolate Heart offers so much from crushing drum blast, to guitars riffs that would punch a hole in the Ozone layer, I won’t lie to you this took me a couple of listen to get to grips as I really struggled with the vocals in the verse but the choruses just have this natural big hook to them to pull you in.
What really has grab my attention with this track is the way it grows and gets stronger and stronger, Desolate Heart really is a power house of a single from the upcoming release of Serpent & Spirit it goes from strength to strength, don’t stand still on this one, truly one hella of a track to kick off the show with
TRENDKILL and their single Obsession
Northern heavyweights, TRENDKILL, have revealed their brand-new video and single, Obsession - https://youtu.be/TP0GeUMsrSY . The track is a layered slab of groove-induced thrash metal that showcases the band’s deft ability to produce captivating heavy music steeped with riffs, dynamics, rage, and intensity.
Comprised of Alistair Lisle (Vocals), Jonny Stern (Guitar), Isaac Edwards (Bass and Backing Vocals), and Corey Bennett (Drums), TRENDKILL come at you from the North East of England. Formed in 2014 as initially just a garage cover band, it didn’t take the metal upstarts long to realise that they had the drive and dexterity to forge their own unique path.
By 2016, TRENDKILL put out their debut release, EP One, which helped to place the youngsters firmly on the map. Many reviews, streams and sales were acquired, along with an invitation to tour throughout the UK, which included a thunderous slot at Bloodstock Festival. The quartet backed their debut EP with the release of their sophomore EP, Black Moon. The record again moved the burly metallers forward, earning them much praise and acclaim. Original vocalist Elliot Bartram, however, departed the group in 2019, and after an extensive search, TRENDKILL recruited new friend and powerhouse vocalist, Alistair Lisle. The band marked their triumphant return last year in supreme style by dropping their new single, Struck From Existence.
The foursome are set to take 2021 by the scruff of the neck, and they are loaded up with their strongest track to date, Obsession. The single is a fury of thrash, groove, and metal, wrapped around anthemic hooks and peppered with contemporary lyrical themes. The band elaborate: "The theme behind Obsession is addiction, whether it's sex, food, drugs or even social media. Addiction is a very real and dominating issue in many people's lives, possibly even more so now during a time where we're all trying to cope through a particularly challenging time”.
With further material on the way, and with the addition of a new management team, Unearthed Music Management, the future is looking very bright.
TRENDKILL on line
https://www.facebook.com/trendkilluk/
https://www.instagram.com/trendkilluk
https://open.spotify.com/artist/17CBF3HaWk5eWspmlRdK6A
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC973EnMYXEhaNBXVD4WeOsQ
Obsession reminds me of classic Dream theatre, the track starts with a really nice acoustic opening and slowly builds from this foundation into a full on assault of crushing vocals for the chorus which is met with a crushing riff, for me about halfway through Obbession is really where this goes into another life, fast paced guitars with crushing solos with amazing drums beats to match we have gone back to the late 80’s where thrash was king and that’s exactly what Obsession sounds like it’s a mixture of pure brilliance of melody and harmony matched with power and thrash, this is another track that is out of this world.
Friday, April 30th, 2020 - (Los Angeles) - Canadian metal outfit and one of this year's hottest break out bands, Spritbox have released a brand new song "Circle With Me" today on Rise Records . The track features the glorious combination of ethereal vocals, bombastic riffs and savage screams that make up the utterly unique Spiritbox calling card. It is accompanied by a gorgeous music video directed by Orie McGinness, that perfectly compliments the lyrical theme of the song with a constantly revolving shot around the band as they perform. Listen to "Circle With Me" here and watch the video here or by clicking the image below.
Speaking about the new track, Courtney LaPlante shares
"This song was written in the studio as a last minute addition, one of the many reasons we are so grateful to no longer be exclusively working remotely. It captures the spectrum of emotions I’ve been feeling lately about my music. From the anxiety I feel about messing up, to a confidence meant to protect me from self doubt.
Visually, we wanted to present the viewer with the image of us that we miss the most: us performing on stage, with nothing to hide behind: instruments, some lights, and beautiful camera movement."
“Circle With Me” follows the band's two break-out, hit singles released last year - the heartbreaking and otherworldly "Constance" and the unrelentingly brutal "Holy Roller". Between them, they have clocked up a staggering 18 million streamsto date, with "Holy Roller" debuting at #25 on Billboard's Hot Hard Rock Songs and spending 7 weeks at #1 on SiriusXM Liquid Metal's "Devil's Dozen" with the remix version of the song feat. Ryo Kinoshita of Crystal Lake spending 5 weeks at #2.
Spiritbox recently finished work on their debut album which is slated for release later this year.
ABOUT SPIRITBOX
The husband and wife duo Courtney LaPlante and Michael Stringer made their debut with a self-released EP in October 2017, quickly building a cult following. In 2018 the duo found their musical counterpart in bass player Bill Crook and partnered with Pale Chord Music to continue to create and release music in single and EP formats and in Fall of 2020, signed with globally renowned label Rise Records.
Spiritbox have quickly become hotly tipped as one of the most exciting, creative and unique new forces to erupt from the world of heavy music. Pushing boundaries both sonically and visually with their beautifully haunting music videos that perfectly match the the juxtaposition of the ethereal, velvet textures of Courtney's singing voice and the visceral, rageful power of her screams as they soar over complex soundscapes that ebb and flow between brutally heavy riffing and and progressive, other worldly electronic-tinged passages.
Drawing their name from a device that some believe is capable of communing with the ldead, the band have a paranormal undertone that runs through everything they do, using EVP (electronic voice phenomena) recordings both at their live shows and within their tracks. A quick look at the music videos for fan favorites such as Belcarra, Blessed Be and Rule of Nines and it's clear to see that the band are no strangers to the macabre or paranormal.
Having toured the world many times over with their previous bands - metal outfit iwrestledabearonce (Courtney and Mike) and pop punk band Living With Lions (Bill) - Spiritbox absorbed the highs and lows of living as working musicians and decided to try a different and more sustainable approach when it came to releasing their music. They took the concept of supply and demand and applied it to their release model, focusing on making fans across the globe by using the social media tools available to them, releasing shorter bodies of music and removing touring from the plan until a demand was built. In doing so they quickly garnered a cult-like online following which has lead to over 66.6 million streams across all platforms and sell outs on every physical release and most merch items they've released to date.
In Feb of 2020 Spiritbox jumped on a plane and finally went on tour in support of After The Burial across Europe, which was unfortunately cut short due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. Despite having to return to Canada early, Spiritbox have remained busy - recording the two new music, shooting the accompanying videos, launching their Patreon and working on their debut LP expected out later this year. The band are also scheduled to perform on major festival line-ups across Europe including Reading & Leeds, Download, Rock am Ring and Rock im Park.
SPIRTBOX
Courtney LaPlante - Vocals
Mike Stringer - Guitar
Bill Crook - Bassist
Spiritbox Online
www.spiritboxband.com
https://www.instagram.com/spiritboxmusic/
https://twitter.com/spiritboxband
https://www.facebook.com/Spiritboxofficial/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmWxquutalJ1ZjdmWLdlhSg
A lot is being said about these guys rightly so you could say never mind trees being pulled up acres of forests are in this band’s sights. The guys have just unleashed Circle with Me, and in all honesty, I get why there so much of a spotlight on these guys right now.
Circle With Me straight will hit you in the chest a real punch to the chest with the guitars will be felt, there is plenty of melody here in the chorus as it has a natural fit
I really Love Courtney vocals as she can easily go from clean to growls in her vocals.
You can find this episode and previous episodes from Setting The Tone in the below links
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