On disc: Uaral

 
- Laments
 
- Claudia Ehrhardt -
 
 


 
- Lamentos a poema muerto
 
- Claudia Ehrhardt -
 
 

Lamentos a poema muerto

(Octagon Music Group - 2007)



 
 

 

With Lamentos a poema muerto the Chilean band Uaral is back after the release of Sounds Of Pain in 2005. Actually I'm not sure, if this is an official release or somehow got published, coz it seems that some of the songs have been previously released...

Thunder and the sound of birds are the intro to Lamentos a poema muerto - and somehow it seems to be a overdone version of Intro of Laments... With La Escritura y el Alarido they present again mainly acoustic guitars which are accompanied by growls. Later a guitar solo is creating soundscapes - doom metal with folk elements. Is Lamentos a new song? Or just an overdone version of Laments? To be honest, I don't hear much difference, but perhaps you have to know the song by heart to find the differences... Same can be said about Surrendered To The Decadence (Parts 2), even if the title indicates that this is the continuing of a song from Laments. The sound quality so far been quite good, but El Campesito starts with a poor sound - perhaps they did it for the effect... With Eterno en mi they present another track some might know from Laments. The bonus track Acidal is probably taken of the same named demo, as I don't know the demo from 2004. I can't tell. Anyway, the tune is about 10 minutes long and they stick to their sound. But it seems to me that the clean vocals are more expressive this time... There is some beauty in their sound and it's almost depressing in its sorrow.

Well, this seems to me a questionable release, coz it seems to be unofficial... Otherwise I can't imagine that a band would re-release songs from a 9 year old EP again and not label it as a best-of. Uaral's music is sad and mourning. The instrumentation minimalistic in a way that they only use what's essential. They might have found a unique sound, but this CD won't get them the attention of the metal world, even if in the underground they might become more known... Music for the dark moments and times of grief.
 
 










Claudia Ehrhardt


  
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Laments

(self-released - 1998)



 
 

 

Uaral are from Chile and this EP is their first release after a demo in the previous year. With the EP Laments they step into publics view for the first time.

You hear rain... Thunder and a howling.... Probably a wolf... And some native answering... That's the intro. With acoustic guitar and keyboard starts The Writing And The Cry slowly off. After almost 2 min. they really kick off with some deep vocals and grunts added to their doom metal. The deep vocals seems to be full of sorrow. Later a flute accompanies the growls and build a counterpart which very often is done by adding female vocal parts. Lament is almost 11 minutes long and also starts with acoustic guitar - seems the guys like to start this way... The growls are added and to me they seems to be a bit out of place. I think with the deep clean vocals the song would be more interesting, coz it's like spoken words, but it's more a buzz.... Then a symphonic edge it gets with the organ. If you take away the growls, then you have folk doom metal - well, perhaps rock would fit better... - which would be interesting to a larger audience. The deep vocals end into a scream before the growls set in again. Back to the main theme. At Surrendered To The Decadence I first thought it's an instrumental, coz the deep vocals did join in after about 2 minutes. With the vocals the song gets sad. They get heavier again - and vary a bit. The last track Eterno en mi starts with some spoken words and something which sounds like rain.... The classic Spanish guitar again, but not flamenco style. A bit too much like Lament... Well, the vocals are lamenting, but that's not keeping the interest of the listener for more then 7 minutes. The music of Uaral is minimalistic in a way...

The songs are interesting, but they have to vary more and it's the vocals they have to work on. On Laments they put it a to lengths and a shortened version would be more interesting for the listener. But as this is their first release - besides a demo - they surely will work on their music and perhaps will do better next time and can surprise the listener.
 
 










Claudia Ehrhardt


  
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