Iter Ad Lucem

Urna are another avant-garde metal project led by the mysterious Italian known only as "MZ," who also expresses himself through Locus Mortis and Arcana Coelestia. Like those groups, Urna make ultra-melancholy metal that mixes the achingly slow tempos of doom with the distorted guitars and unholy vocal belches of black metal, plus keyboards and additional guitar melodies that are extremely psychedelic. The best point of comparison would be the U.K. psych-doom act Esoteric, or possibly the one-man Scandinavian band Nortt, though Nortt's compositions are weepier and more one-note than MZ's. This guy's all about crescendo after crescendo, the music rising and surging like waves of black water. Treated acoustic piano reverberates in the back from time to time, and finishes off the two-part title suite (nearly 20 minutes of music in all). Throughout the album, tracks fade into each other, turning the entire disc into one continuous piece with a focused aesthetic and a highly accomplished musical approach. This album deserves an audience beyond the metal underground; it's a work of serious beauty.