Setting Fire to the Sky
Urne sound ready to reach a bigger room on Setting Fire to the Sky. The riffs still have plenty of force, but the choruses make more space for clean singing and direct melodies. It gives the album a different kind of confidence, even if some of the rougher edges have been tidied away.
Be Not Dismayed gets the balance right immediately. There's a strong thrash drive to the playing, with enough weight underneath to keep it from becoming a simple exercise in speed. Joe Nally's vocals help give the song its urgency. The band have a good opening here, and they know it.
Weeping to the World makes their wider ambitions clearer. The melody has a more uplifting quality, and the vocals are easier to grab hold of. Whether that feels like progress will depend on what you want from Urne. The songs are more welcoming, but a few of the choices are familiar enough to make the band's own identity less obvious.
The Ancient Horizon is one of the strongest arguments for this direction. Its lead guitar has room to rise above the rhythm parts, giving the song a sense of scale without relying entirely on a bigger chorus. There's real purpose to the playing.
The nine-minute Harken the Waves brings in Mastodon's Troy Sanders. His voice fits naturally alongside Nally's, and the longer arrangement gives the song room to move. The resemblance to Mastodon is hardly difficult to spot, though. Urne are more interesting when they use those influences as a starting point and keep pushing.
Breathe takes the opposite approach, bringing in Jo Quail's cello for a quieter change of pace. It's a welcome texture, although the song doesn't leave quite the same impression as the stronger guitar-led material.
Setting Fire to the Sky has an identity caught between weight and accessibility. It doesn't resolve that tension perfectly, but its best songs show why the move makes sense. There are big riffs here, strong melodies and a band willing to make room for both.
