London metal trio Urne have released a studio video for current single ‘Desolate Heart’, taken from their upcoming debut album Serpent & Spirit, set for release on 25th June via Candlelight Records.
Capturing the atmosphere of the Serpent & Spirit recording sessions, watch the video to ‘Desolate Heart’ here: https://youtu.be/YA58tDXz-9Y
Stream ‘Desolate Heart’ and pre-order Serpent & Spirit here: https://URNE.lnk.to/SerpentandSpiritPR
The video footage was filmed by guitarist Angus Neyra during the Serpent & Spirit recording sessions in Oct 2020 at Foel Studio in Wales, with Chris Fielding on engineering duties.
Bassist / vocalist Joe Nally commented: “We wanted to capture the feel of the studio itself as its in such a remote location, and every day the valley would fill with fog and silence. At night the only light comes from the moon and stars completely unpolluted. It’s an incredible place to record and we feel it helped set the mood for the album.”
On ‘Desolate Heart’, Joe continues: “The song ‘Desolate Heart’ had been in the making years before Urne actually formed, but was never completed.”
During the writing process for Serpent & Spirit, Joe found an old demo of the first few minutes of the track, and instantly knew it had to be finished. ‘Desolate Heart’ subsequently became the first single released from the album.
There is no single way that Urne describe their sound, it all comes back to one thing: heavy. There are shades of Metallica, Mastodon, Alice In Chains in there, hopping between sludge, tech-metal, doom, hardcore and anything else with a weighty heart.
Formed by ex-Hang The Bastard bassist Joe Nally and guitarist Angus Neyra after their former band called it quits, the pair already had a reputation for big, heavy riffs. Getting drummer Richard Harris on board in 2018, they gilded their new outfit with debut EP The Mountain Of Gold, which immediately marked Urne out as a formidable new metallic force.
Now, they return with debut album Serpent & Spirit. Heavier, wider and with an even higher ratio of killer riffs than the EP, it also comes with a weighty concept based around the central character’s struggle as he’s pulled between good and evil, darkness and light.
“I had a bit of a bad patch for a few months,” explains Joe, revealing the inspiration for the album’s lyrics. “I’m absolutely fine now, but I drew on those two months where I just wasn’t feeling great. I took that and wrote a story based about that. The actual track-listing is done like that film Memento, where it’s all in a different order. Maybe one day someone will listen to the lyrics and work out which order the story goes in.
“The album is called Serpent & Spirit. The spirit is the human experience, the serpent is the evil that tricks your mind. It’s about getting pulled apart and trying to find yourself within all of that. So it’s almost good and evil, and throughout the album it’s about a person getting pulled from the light to the dark.”
Due to COVID, the final parts of the album were written over Skype, before being recorded by Chris Fielding (Conan, Electric Wizard, Primordial) at Foel Studios in deepest Wales during lockdown. It was then sent to acclaimed producer Jens Bogren who handled the mastering of Serpent & Spirit.
Urne have announced a UK tour in support of Serpent & Spirit. Catch them on the following dates:
Wed 7th July – Bournemouth – Anvil
Thu 8th July – London – The Black Heart
Fri 9th July – Birmingham – Dead Wax
Sat 10th July – Manchester – Star & Garter
Urne are:
Joe Nally – Bass / Vocals
Angus Neyra – Guitar
Richard Harris – Drums
Urne online:
https://www.facebook.com/urneband
https://www.twitter.com/urneband
https://www.instagram.com/urneband
Track listing:
1 Serpent & Spirit
2 The Palace of Devils & Wolves
3 Memorial
4 Moon & Sky
5 Desolate Heart
6 Envy The Dead
7 Memorial – Sing Me To Rest
8 A Tomb So Frail
