By: Anders

Posted: Jun 6, 2006

This is one of the albums there has been a lot of talk about, up to its release, meaning that the expectations to Urkraft's second album "The Inhuman Aberration" are somewhat higher than what the band had wished, I'm sure of. Though when I remember back to the band's demo material, I am confident in that the band can lift the expectations, as they already then had some features that made them standout, compared to a lot of other bands.

Urkraft anno 2006 delivers heavy yet melodic death/thrash, the base of the music is straight ahead, mid-tempo, thrashing with some good riffs and interesting and catchy grooves. Into this the band blends great melodies and some awe-inspiring atmospheric and at times bombastic keyboards, and it is the interaction from the keyboards that lifts the music to the height it is. It adds a whole lot the dark and sinister atmosphere the bands accomplishes to create. The compositions are well-written, they have the needed ups and downs, and keeps the listener's interest up throughout the album. Some parts of the music seems quite standard for both thrash and death metal, though that might be needed, as those passages are easy to remember and easy to place. Besides all that, there are a lot of well executed pace shifts worked into the songs, yet a thing that lifts the experience.

The vocals are mean, it is shifting between a guttural and harsh growl and a thrashier out of this world vocal, both creeping under the skin and leaving an impression, even when the disc stops spinning.

It is Tue Madsen who have recorded and produced the album, and yet again has he made a crushing heavy and crunchy sound. All the details are audible, the sound is pretty polished, but still has the needed raw edge, which keeps the energy high, a real powerful production. Though the drums could might have been given a bit more power and a more alive sound.

This album is quite impressive from the start to the end, the way the band uses the keyboards to build up and close atmospheres, and parts of the songs are amazing. A slow Morbid Angel with the atmospheric spacey touches of Hypocrisy could be a way to define the music. Though we are getting served much more than that. When you go down to the store to check out the album, be sure to listen to 'The Only Gods', an amazing atmospheric and slightly epic track, offering all the best of Urkraft and 'Liberation' an atmospheric, yet very brutal track, one of the fastest and most diverse tracks on the album, offering a nice epic feel as well. Urkraft has really matured and delivered a breathtaking album, which one can dig deep into and use a lot of time on. And on the digipack version of album a cover of AC/DC's 'The Razor's Edge' will be included, damn how I'd like to hear how they handle that one!

Rating: 8½/10

Urkraft website

Urkraft interview

Distributed in Denmark and kindly supplied by Target

Buy the album at

Buy merchandise at

Print