Ur Draugr – With Hunger Undying
I don’t know if anyone consistently follows or reads my reviews but if you have been, you’ll notice that most have been very positive. Unfortunately, I don’t often bother with bands I’m unfamiliar with unless Stan sends them my way (and I like the genre). So in an effort to review a band I’ve never heard of before and maybe do a poor review, I browsed around and found Ur Draugr. I based my selection on three requirements: 1) had to have at least cool album art, 2) had to be a genre and 3) had to have a cool name. You’ve come across “Draugr”, if you’re a normal, sane person, you’ve played Elder Scrolls: Skyrim and have come across these fucks so now I’m already primed in the pants for audio judgment. Well, not necessarily to my surprise but fortunately for you and me, this album is pretty fucking good. Plus they’re aussies so aussie pride woo woo go win the rugby world cup pls. I’ll be clopening (closing the night at 3:30 AM before then opening at 6:30 AM) so don’t fucking piss me off cause chances are I’ll be pretty pissy as it is.
What we got in our hands here is some classic black/death metal with progressive elements. Reminds me of Ghost of Perdition – era Opeth but with corpse paint and no inclination to release an album like Heritage. These guys really took their time and constructed a well-thought out album. This is what it feels like to have a perfect team draft in Dota2. You got a meta-relevant, not-fucked-in-the-ass-by-IceFrog heroes, capable players, and the cruelty, his malice, and the will to dominate all life. There are many memorable moments with each song distinct and powerful. You know that face you make when you dutch oven yourself but you’re actually hearing great music? Well be careful because if you’ll keep making that face throughout the album and your face will stay stuck like that forever and God won’t love you anymore and your children will be made fun of because their parent looks fucking stupid all the time and your spouse will stop fucking you even though they haven’t been doing you good for awhile anyway because life is boring so you pick up a mild cocaine habit which blows up into constantly on some fat blow so you fall into debt so your family falls apart and your cocaine habit which was bad before is even worse and you lose your nasal septum because of how much fucking blow you do so you live in a fucking sewage pipe line and you get wet at the nearby slime/garbage pile because it looks like something you could fuck. All because you couldn’t stop doing that stinky fart face. But actually, those are all bad things that won’t happen because this album is good. Just be careful. Be especially prepared for songs like “Seeds Sown in Famine”, “Cult of the Greatwurm”, and of course, “With Hunger Undying”.
This album is great. Like many of the recent reviews I’ve done, there are only minor issues. First and most importantly, the vocals are a bit too quiet in the mix. The technicality is great and all – very prog very black very death – but we want to enjoy what talents the vocalist has to offer and don’t get to fully appreciate them. That’s all that can be said. I can’t say that they are a good replacement for older Opeth even though I really want to but that’s only because if you’re gonna say that, you better have complete confidence in your answer. Those are massive shoes to fill and until Ur Draugr release another album or two that is on par or even better than With Hunger Undying, I can’t say make statements like that. However, don’t let that stop you from walking around with your pants around your ankles around the house while listening to this.
Written by Cole Olson
Ur Draugr: With Hunger Undying
Aeternitas Tenebrarum Musicae Fundamentum
4.7 / 5
