Urluk is a Doom Black band from Italy. Urluk was formed in 2020 and released its debut album, More, on September 7th, 2023. The album was released through Remparts Productions and promoted through Southern Promotion PR.
Introduction:
Urluk, More: This review will evaluate every aspect of the album, from its intricate musical composition to its production. Our analysis will provide valuable insights to help you determine if this album is worth adding to your collection.
The First Three Sins of More
Let’s start by discussing the first three sins of Urluk and their album, More.
The First Sin, The Strings/Keys: Consists of guitar work that’s dark, raw sounding with tremolo pickings and short, clean passages. The Second Sin, The Vocals: Involve mostly grim yet depressive-sounding black metal screams with clean vocals. The Third Sin—The Percussions: This delves into a vast world of drum work that is raw and utilises various tempos, fills, and beats.
The Fourth Sin: Overall Discussion: Sound that is distinctly their own — described as black doom melancholic metal.
The listener immediately presses the play button and is transported to a different world. The opening piece, titled The Fog, welcomes the listener with a haunting and eerie soundscape. The melancholic riffs that follow add to the dark and brooding atmosphere, enveloping the listener in a world of haunting hues and mysterious ambience.
As the listener embarks on their dark journey through the second piece titled Convoluted, and the remaining three songs, this forbidden fruit of art is a musical experience that delivers a wide range of sounds to captivate the listener’s ear.
The vast musical spectrum includes classic nineties black metal, doom, ambient and folk; all blended into a wall of unique and powerful sound. Despite the many genres present, the band has managed to create a sound that is distinctly their own — a sound best described as “Black Doom Melancholic Metal.” Fusing the various elements creates a truly immersive experience that will leave a lasting impact on the listener.
So sit back, relax, and let the music take you on a journey you won’t soon forget. The devilmanship provides the listener’s ears with an excellent instrumental (strings and drums) and vocal composition.
At the same time, some tracks have their atmospheric keyboard moments with brief use of clean vocals and acoustic guitars, and the solos and leads are also one in a very melodic and doom-like style. An owl’s sudden and unexpected hooting pierced through the silence and sent shivers down the spine. It seemed to add a sense of darkness and mystery to the atmosphere, almost like a sign of something ominous. Interestingly, the band name Urluk derives from the local dialect word for owl, a common sight in the Italian countryside. This connection to the natural world only adds to the allure and intrigue of the band.
The album’s production is characterised by a raw, dark sound that provides a unique listening experience. Every song on the album employs different tones, moods, tempos, and atmospheres to create a truly unique sound. The album’s instrumental and vocal aspects are carefully crafted to deliver a highly artistic and polished final product.
The album’s lyrical concept revolves around the theme of loss, a continuation of the previous work. The lyrics explore the idea that the sense of loss is far more impactful on human vulnerability and helplessness than fear. The album delves into the complex emotions of experiencing loss and how it affects our daily lives.
In contrast to fear, the album explores a more constant, deeply rooted feeling of melancholy. This feeling prompts the human soul to reflect intensely on the past, present, and future, often searching for something elusive and hard to find. The album’s lyrics are highly introspective and offer a nuanced exploration of the human experience. Overall, the album is a masterful work of art that rewards careful listening and contemplation. The titles of the songs, fog, convoluted, haunted, and thoughts, make up a sentence (the fog contorts the haunted ideas). While “more”, the title of the final song and the album, has a double meaning: What remains More stronger after the Loss? The answer is in the title itself: Melancholy Only REmains.
The album ends with the last song, More. We want to thank Urluk for letting us review their album. Now, we’re going to wrap it up by discussing the final three sins and concluding the review.
You’re Listening To “Convoluted”
PlayThe Last Three Sins
Let’s discuss the last three sins and our thoughts on Urluk and their album, More.
The Fifth Sin, The Memorabilia: Is that for us, More is an exceptional album, showcasing a remarkable blend of dark, blackened doom and melancholic art fruit. The album’s haunting melodies and introspective lyrics will leave a lasting impression on the listener.
The Sixth Sin, The Artwork:
Portrays a weathered and lonely house standing alone in a barren landscape. The surrounding environment appears bleak and lifeless, accentuating the eerie aura that emanates from the place. Muted colours and shadows create a sad and haunting mood, adding to isolation and despair. The image invites the viewer to contemplate the history of the house and the people who may have lived in it, leaving a lasting impression of melancholy.
The Seventh Sin, Disrelish:
There is nothing to disrelish within the musical spectrum of Urluk and their album More.
This concludes the Urluk, More review.
Track-Listing:
- The Fog (instrumental)
- Convoluted
- Haunted
- Thoughts
- More
Urluk is:
- Stefania Salladini – growls, screams, and clean vocals
- Massimo Boffa – guitars, programming
- Luca Nicolucci – drums
- Stefano Tatasciore – bass
