Artist: Urn
Country: Finland
Label: Osmose Productions
Formats: LP / CD
Year: 2025
A release that you knew it would come, sooner or later. A compilation of all non-album tracks by one of the most underrated Finnish Extreme Metal bands, Urn. When talking about Black/Thrash Metal people usually stick to the obvious bands such as Deströyer 666, Nifelheim or Desaster. And, not for no reason, obviously, but where Deströyer 666 went for a more Heavy Metal-tinged approach and both Nifelheim and Desaster both have a stronger melodic Black Metal underpinning, Urn is still a hard-hitting Black/Thrash Metal band. Alright, ‘Iron Will Of Power’, the band’s most recent album from 2009 (Season Of Mist), sounds quite a bit more Heavy/Speed Metal-fuelled than their earliest output and obviously they have gradually become better musicians – yet, the essence, the core of the band has remained largely untouched. Without taking anything away from the aforementioned bands, or any other for that matter, I have always held Urn high for their perseverance and loyalty to the genre. Although the tracks presented on this compilation are old, they are still as fresh as any other of the later Urn recordings.
The compilation starts off with ‘Morbid Death’, a set of six songs that were recorded back in 2003 and originally appeared on the Iron Pegasus-released split LP with Decayed. The fact that you can still get this split LP, at the time of writing, for less than 10 bucks from Discogs validates my opinion of how criminally underrated Urn is. These songs reflect well what the band sounded like in the early days. The essentials may actually be unchanged, but the roughness of the recording here adds to the charm. The propulsive energy in the music is the tastemaker here. Being recorded not too long after the ‘666 Megatons’-debut album from 2001, these songs obviously feel closest to that album. To me, these unpolished kick-in-the-teeth-tracks are most valuable of this compilation disc.
Next up is ‘Promo 1997’, which saw a reissue through the great Damnation Records in 1999. Being basically the oldest Urn recordings (not counting the infamous rehearsal tape from a few years prior), you can hear a band that already knew what they wanted to do. The things that I always loved most of these recordings is the very prominent snare drum that gives the music an a very charming upbeat Punk-like vibe.
‘Promo 2005’, then, was a 2-track CDR including ‘Possessed By Satan’ and ‘Rise Of Necromancy’, both of which appeared on the 2006-released ‘Dawn Of The Devastation’ (originally released by No Sign Of Life). The initial versions on the promo CDR and the ones that appeared on the album are not all that different from each other, so it feels like they are included mostly for the sake of completion – which in itself is just fine. The next two tracks are ‘Ruthless Strike’ and ‘Legions United’ that popped up on ‘Dawn Of The Devastation’ and ‘Soul Destroyers’ (2008, Dynamic Arts Records). Especially ‘Legions United’ shows Urn from their most melodic side, sporting a way more Rock ‘n’ Roll sort of guise than they had done before.
Although a lot of tracks on ‘Morbid Death And Birth Of Unreleased Nightmares’ have eventually made it to some Urn records, the compilation definitely gives a good idea of the earlier steps of the band. In that respect, this release does exactly what it should do: it helps put Urn a little more on the map. It’s about damn time they got more recognition and appreciation. Something for which Osmose Productions, with its recent reissues of the Urn back catalogue, certainly deserves credit.
