Urzah - The Scorching Gaze

Urzah – The Scorching Gaze
Release Date: 3rd May 2023
Label: APF Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Post-Sludge, Metalcore, Post-Metal.
FFO: Cult Leader, Converge, Elder, Gojira, Cave In.
Review By: Mark Young

Urzah brings their debut release via APF Records, which happens to know a thing or two about good music. Combine that with a ton of positive noise courtesy of Kerrang Radio amongst others, and we have something that I am genuinely excited to hear.

Launching straight in, I, Empyrean is a propulsive opener, bringing you in almost gently and then bang! Here comes the riffs, bringing in a delicious chug. The drumming here is spot on, anchoring the sound and throwing in those little touches that elevate the music further. The vocalist gets on the right side of anguished, with a clear delivery that allows you to pick up on every nuance. It’s a great start, and they follow up with the discord that is Lacrimare (Misery’s Shadow) which combines a brawling approach to hammer itself home with a great sense of melody. I’ve said this before, if it makes me want to play this myself, inspiring you to pick up a guitar, then it has that something to it. This 1-2 has that quality; the heaviness, the subtle all wrapped up in one place.

The fun doesn’t stop there; Immateria Noir with its stabbing opening salvo into a melancholic turn, into the riff equivalent of falling off a cliff. It is a journey that takes so many steps, always forward and never backward. Every change or progression fits in with the one that came before, it’s seamless. A Storm Is Ever Approaching is probably the most apt name for the Sturm und Drang that unfolds, with the gentle attack of The Aesthetic, with vocals provided by Eleanor Tinlin that are equally matched making it so much more than a filler track. The quiet is replaced by Of Decay, starting with what I describe as a RiffusOctopi (seemingly many fingers…).

And then, we hit the closing double of Thera I (Sea of Flames) and Thera II (Embers of Descent) where Ed Fairman’s vocals start to warp and deform, seemingly putting everything into each word. A repeated passage is hammered until the closing moments, as they unleash a fiendish melody line to bring Thera I to a close. Thera II drops a heavy start, a metronomic exercise in down-picking, dominating until a solo break comes in to break this almost hypnotic measure.

You can see/hear why there is such a positive buzz around them, it is a storming debut that doesn’t put a foot wrong. I love that although each of the songs is different, you can feel that commonality around how they have been put together. Every song sits well with the one before and after, and possess an amazing sense of balance between heavy and light. If I were to be critical, then Thera I is slightly overlong, but that is a minor thing. It is a superbly crafted album, and you should get this on your pull list immediately.