Urne have had such an impact in the last few years, that is hard to reconcile the fact that this is their first major UK headline run. Covid (as with most things) takes a lot of the blame as their phenomenal debut "Serpent and Spirit” emerged at a time when touring wasn't really an option. This comprehensive jaunt around the aisles is nominally in support of their deeply personal (and rather cracking) sophomore effort “A Feast of Sorrow” but really, it's an opportunity for the band to prove to all and sundry that they deserve the hype that has been heaped upon them.

More metal than a campsite full of Slayer fans, Satan’s Hollow is still an odd place for a gig. Bands play on the centre podium that is usually reserved for drunk revellers throwing shapes to System of a Down. It's also cold, blisteringly cold, and during their set Urne frontman Joe Nally continually calls out the fact that there is a vent pumping down freezing cold air right onto his head. With the crowd refusing to dispense with their winter coats and hoodies, Tribe of Ghosts have the unenviable task of trying to warm us up.

I fully embrace the irreverence that the younger generations have towards metals' perceived rules and regulations. Tribe of Ghosts are happily inserting smooth syrupy pop vocals where it really shouldn't go. They are also inverting our understanding of what actually is heavy. Alongside the piercing riffs, there is an awful lot of cavorting electronic. Rather than feel alien it compliments Adam Sedgwick’s buzzsaw guitars, building a claustrophobic landscape of off-kilter extremities.  The pads that adorn Beccy Blaker knees suddenly make sense when she launches herself across the spacious stage during the last couple of numbers. Full of passion and derision for the old ways of doing things, you can certainly see where Tribe of Ghosts fit in a post-Spiritbox world.

Mountain Caller weave astonishingly emotive post-rock. Rather than go down the introspective route, the music that they create is much more brash and muscular than is usual within this genre. The fact that there are three of them and that they are dalliancing at the borders of prog means that the Rush comparisons are inevitable. Rather than be shy about that association, they embrace the resemblance and build upon it. What we get is an astonishing half an hour of intricate musicality.

Instrumentals work when you completely forget about the absence of vocals, and that is the case this evening. The tracks aired are sumptuous nuggets of constantly shifting sonic textures. A new album is imminent and El Reeve quips that tonight's set has been curated by producer and proud Mancunian Joe Clayton who is standing in the wings tonight like some shadowy Svengali.

We get to snippets from the forthcoming release, and it is obvious that there is a massive jump up in the complexity of material. They are now working with layers and layers of interconnecting musical passages, all distinctly different but all beautifully aligning with each other. Without majorly veering away from a well-trodden path, Mountain Caller are doing something distinctly different that feels both fresh and invigorating. “Chronile II: Hypergenesis” is due out on 26 January next year and I for one cannot wait.

Given the fact that Urne’s vocalist and bassist Joe has a stinking cold (a fact that he unashamedly shares with us on numerous occasions throughout the set) and given the fact that the venue’s internal temperature is stuck somewhere northwards of the Arctic and given that the staging is just plain odd, Urne shouldn't be as God darn good tonight as they are. They are frankly astonishing. Astonishing because of the intensity of the performance they unleash. Astonishing because of the dense and intricate nature of the musicality that the three of them unfurl. And astonishing because of the quality of the material they have at hand.

They are brutally heavy but in a cultured and controlled way. They conjure up wave upon wave of immaculately sculptured torrents of sound. Every track has its own distinct ecosystem of blatant creativity, and they play free and easy with conventions and rhythmic constraints. Putting aside the venue's unique spatial aesthetics, the sound tonight is bob on. It is crystal clear, and you can hear every intricately contoured note. The multiple layers are clearly identifiable and it is exhilarating to have the audio dynamics to matriculate.

Understandably they spend most of their allotted time showcasing material from this summer's “A Feast on Sorrow”. As stated, it is a stunningly complex thesis on the subject of loss and grief. It is obvious how personal and painful the subject matter still is to Joe as he gurns his way through the tracks from the album. The anguish oozes out of every pore of his body as he screams out the emotionally raw lyrics. As he stomps around the circular stage it is obvious that retelling these tales on a nightly basis is both a harrowing and a cathartic experience.

However, it isn't all doom and gloom, and Joe is a highly affable frontman with an impressive line in stream-of-consciousness onstage banter. He quips that the awkward staging will serve them well for that moment that James and Lars asked them to open for Metallica and he propositions our very own King of the Snaps, Johann on the strength of his French accent alone. He also seems genuinely moved by the number of people that turned up this evening and the reaction to the material, though he is only semi-successful in getting us to move closer to try and in order to benefit from our body heat.

Whilst “A Feast on Sorrow” is a cosmic leap forward in terms of their collective ambition, it is still fantastic to hear stuff from their awesome debut album. The title track, ‘A Tomb So Frail’ and the audacious ‘Desolate Heart’ all get an airing. The latter is well on its way to becoming a stupendous set closer, with its ground-shaking riffs and its hypnotically repetitive refrains.

Urne are quite simply the masters of modern metal. They manage to take what in other hands is a tired and overdone art form and breathe new and redemptive life into it. The vision and ambition are startling, and the biggest emotion I take with me as I wander off into the pissing rain is a giddy excitement about where they go next.

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!
Urne, Mountain Caller, Tribe Of Ghosts

And while at it, check out our Urne interview at Bloodstock 2023