Sludge is not my usual cup of tea, I will say this without any hesitation, however! There are times that this down-pressing, ever crushing, slowly moving forward music is just what a doctor would order. Therefore, it goes without saying this genre, albeit not frequently visited, won’t feel unappreciated in the pages of Indokult.
Urbatarur is a young sludge/doom band from Yerevan, which is the capital of Armenia and although you can find information about quite a few Armenian underground bands online, these guys are basically only the second Armenian band I am dealing with in writing (the first was Adana Project, just for the sake of completeness).
Anyway, what to say about the self-titled debut of Urbatarur? Well, it’s quite easy. If you want to put it down, one could write it sounds like a shitloads of other sludge/doom bands coming before them – and that would be correct, of course. While listening to Urbatarur’s material, I’ve coming up with comparisons with their Indonesian counterparts Temaram, and, certainly, with the limitations of the genre, out of necessity, the output would sound similar.
But is it a bad thing? Nope. Not at all. Does anyone complain about the oh-so-blatant similarities in pop music? Techno? Heavy metal…or, say, hardcore/grindcore, or death metal? Of course not, the genre definition sets the way you write your material. Not everything has to be innovated to be enjoyed.
Of course, I have the advantage not staying in the genre, so with any artist in any given genre, I am thinking of liking them (or disliking them, if that’s the case) in that particular moment. And that’s how it should be. Obviously, if you listen to sludge/doom 24/7, then eventually it all would just boil down to the heavy, distorted wall of sound and wailing vocals.
Urbatarur’s 4-song debut (offering you almost 30 minutes of music) is great. Harsh at times, giving way to the soothing passages leading to the mental contemplation (for example, the ending of the “Voices of Earth”), then, again, grabbing you by the neck and let you suffer the effect of the distorted sounds.
The music definitely worked better in my depressed condition (although I can’t really say if it helps in the depressive state, but on the other hand – who cares, right?), however, no matter what state you are in, I am pretty sure the music of Urbatarur will be appreciated by any fan of the heavier genres.
Really, check it for yourself:
Bandcamp: https://urbatarur.bandcamp.com/album/urbatarur
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/urbatarur/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/urbatarur/
