Album Review: Ne Obliviscaris - Urn

Proving once again that they are one of the finest and most important heavy bands on the planet, Melbourne's Ne Obliviscaris return with their third long player.

Urn takes the listener on a journey into musical extremes at all parts of the musical spectrum, from quiet, wistful acoustic passages to a maelstrom of molten metal to cathartic, classically tinged flourishes, and just about everything in between. All propelled by musicianship of an illustrious calibre, tied together through bold and cohesive songwriting and crowned with one of the best and most enigmatic twin-vocal assaults in heavy music.

With everything new this band releases, it is easy to see why their music was selected by the Sydney Conservatorium Of Music to be studied for excellence in composition and technique. Each individual member is a true master of his craft and all six members lock-in in perfect cohesion with the other players in the band context. It is almost criminal that this band is so damn good.

And the best thing about it is, they're all ours. Embrace them, embrace their music first and foremost, but also the new ground they are breaking for other bands to follow, in a business sense.

This album is an opus of titanic proportions. Urn is one of the albums of the year, no question.