UNRU – DIE WIEDERKEHR DES VERDRÄNGTEN

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Mar 072022
 

(Andy Synn catches up with the new album from Germany’s Unru, which came out last Friday)

It may surprise you to learn that, more often than not, I don’t have much control over what I listen to.

Oh, sure, I try (heavy emphasis on “try”) to pre-plan what I need/want to listen to for NCS-related purposes, but when it comes to what I listen to for my own pleasure I’m much more at the mercy of my urges and impulses.

Case in point, while I started out the year listening to a lot of Metallic Hardcore or Hardcore-influenced Metal, of various shapes and stripes, more recently I’ve found myself unconsciously gravitating back towards the Black Metal side of things.

What a coincidence, then, that German Blackened Crust crew Unru appear to find themselves undergoing a similar transformation on Die Wiederkehr des Verdrängten.

Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: KRALLICE, NEGATIVA, UNRU, HAUTAJAISYÖ, IMPLORE, BLAZEMTH

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Jan 202022
 

 

Here are a half dozen new tracks and videos from forthcoming records that caught my attention over the last 24 hours, and are worth your attention. I think you’ll find that altogether they make for an interconnected playlist that flows well.

KRALLICE (U.S.)

If there is now any kind of reliable forecast for new music from Krallice, it is to expect the unexpected. It seems evident that the many creative forces within the band are simply uninterested in plowing the same furrow twice, and instead they give free rein to what interests them and how they’re feeling at the moment. Like all good mavericks, the impulse to shake things up also seems to be alive and well. Continue reading »

SPLITS: CORTEZ / BORRACHO AND UNRU / PARAMNESIA

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, SHORT BUT SWEET  3 Responses »
Feb 122014
 

Here are some thoughts about two new splits I’d like to recommend, with streaming music for each. They make for quite a contrast.

CORTEZ / BORACHO

My last mention of DC’s Borracho came in connection with a video, which combined a stunning piece of music from the band’s 2011 debut Splitting Sky with a stunning piece of film; since then, Borracho have released several short works and, in 2013, a new album (Oculus). Cortez are from Boston, and this split  was my first exposure to their music. The new split will be a 7″ vinyl from AM Records scheduled for shipping around April 1, and a pre-order of the vinyl will bring you an immediate download of the music on Bandcamp.

Each band contributed one song to the split. Borracho’s “Know My Name” is a real skull-breaker. The riff is king, but a king so soaked in radioactivity that the Geiger counter is going off the scale. It’s ultra-swampy and ultra-groovy, a stoner metal monster with a chorus meant for sing-alongs (except few people will be able to hit Steve Fisher’s gritty highs). Awesome track. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: UNRU / SUN WORSHIP SPLIT

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  12 Responses »
Nov 092013
 

This is a review of a split release by two German black metal bands — Unru and Sun Worship — that will be issued on 12″ vinyl on December 10, 2013, by An Out Recordings and Sick Man Getting Sick Records. Each band contributes a single song, one per side. Both songs are now streaming on Bandcamp and both are available as immediate downloads with pre-orders of the record. And both are really good.

UNRU

Unru’s first release, Demo MMXIII, came out this past January. It was an 11-track affair in which none of the songs reached four minutes and more than half were less than two. By contrast, Unru’s contribution to this split, “Von der Flüchtigkeit des Todes”, is nearly 10 minutes in length. For most of that time, it’s a storming cascade of distorted tremolo-picked guitars and blasting drumbeats through which a grim melody rises and falls like heaving waves. The seething intensity of the music is enhanced by acidic, reverberating shrieks. Continue reading »