The name Urskumug reveals everything about the band; this is black metal. Even though the name's been taken from fantasy fiction novels, it's just so black metal, innit?! With 'Am Nodr', the Latvian quartet unleashes their power for larger audience for the first time (the self-released debut demo 'Pāreja' came out in 2003).

The short intro '2012' consists of machine sounds, and portends some modern/futuristic black metal. This omen proves to be wrong for most of the time, though. Norwegian style old school black metal with modern implementation soundwise is what Urskumug offer, creating warped sharp soundscapes rather than play riffs. This ain't Burzum or Emperor! Electronics are in use, but usually awashed by other elements. Pace is fast or blasting for the most of time, sadly making it all quite dull. There's not much to catch during these 42 minutes, as it's just frantic mayhem (no pun intended). Okay, the band performs in frenzy, but I could use more catchiness! I mean I want to remember something about the songs when the album's over. Some compositional decision and note patterns sound funny, some burlesque. No, this ain't Arcturus either. There's some pagan elements also. I can't find the red thread in most of the songs, but Urskumug have succeeded a few times: 'Time of the Jackdaw', 'Talking as a Shaman's Son' (some Immortal influences on this one) and epic 'Am Nodr'.

The production job is very clear, airy, yet heavy. Actually fucking good, but still keeping some of the black metal spirit. Drums are programmed, but I didn't notice it, honestly. There could be a human playing. The promotional copy has no lyrics (what a surprise), but some themes are said to be shamanism, time and death. The words are wheezed in the band's native language and in English. Anyways, maybe the lyrics would help me to find that red thread, who knows.

I certainly can't name any similar acts, so give this a try if you seek primitive, uneasy, vortex-like, sharp-edged black metal, which is performed with potency. Emperor maniacs especially are adviced to do so. There's potential bubbling in Urskumug, maybe loads of it, but still my heart isn't won with this. But, this neither leaves me cold, so maybe this just needs a lot of listening to get into.

Rating: 5½ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
04/25/2006 20:34