Band info
Band: Urlik
Album: MMXXIV
Genre: hardcore, crust, black metal, math metal.
Release date: September 25th, 2024.
Country: Euskal Herria (Basque Country, Spain).
Review
Urlik is a two-man project from the Basque Country, combining black metal with hardcore, but also math rock or grindcore. The lyrics are shouted in the Euskera language and they deal with issues such as anti-capitalism, pacifism, feminism, ecology or Basque culture and colonialism as in the second song of the album “Ez gara ezer, ez gara inor” (We are nothing, we are nobody). Anti-colonialism also applies to cultures and peoples living in continental Europe. In addition to the Basques, one can still point to the Saami people living in Fennoscandia and Western Siberia. After all, the government and elites of so-called Spain on whose territory the Basque Country is located (and in the adjacent area on the French side), have a record of cultural oppression of its citizens for example in Catalonia.
The band was formed in 2018 and since then they have released 3 albums, each containing 4 songs and having a title depending on the year of release so this year’s album is titled 2024 in Roman notation-i.e. XXMMIV. Each of these albums is part of the “Azalak” (Skins) trilogy and each cover features a picture of a skin either of a living thing, a tree or a fungus.
Musically it’s really good and interesting, Andoni and Iker aka the two members of the band, take you on a journey full of riffs from different tales – from black, through grindcore to math rock on a hardcore base with fast drums and shouted vocals. The whole thing makes a unique impact of sound, which, combined with Euskera’s language and subject matter, gives a downright unconventional feel. It’s fast, it’s interesting it’s original. So let’s take the opportunity of the release of this material to highlight the culture, language and history of the Basque people and the history of resistance against the Castilian metropolis.
Euskal Heria Antifaxista!
Other links and platforms
Bandcamp: https://urliktaldea.bandcamp.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/urlik_band/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@urliktaldea