Urban Primate - Desolation

July 12th 2022

(Album Review)

****1/2

Modern Metal with a strong Post-Grunge and groove that screams classic.

Urban Primate have re-released their 'Desolation' album via their new label Wormholedeath Worldwide, on July 12th, 2022. Its a solid move and can help them get a lot more folks to notice this album, and it's certainly one that deserves a lot of attention. There is a big difference between a good album and a classic album, there have been a few artists who have been able to utterly nail a new release and make it into an instant classic.

And I think Urban Primate, might have done this by making this move. They go far beyond what was expected of them, and pump up the production values on the new version of 'Desolation'. Not by just throwing money at it all, or cranking it to eleven (Like Spinal Tap), but by understanding how to really craft an album. This is where the 'Desolation' album really comes into it's own, within the first seconds of the album intro track, you can tell this is transcending the great and into classic territory.

Two albums that come to mind when listening to this are both classics too Anthrax’s ‘Sound of white Noise’ and also the peak Ozzy Osbourne album ‘No more Tears’. This was a time when metal and hard Rock wasnt afraid to really push for an epic commercial sound while still rocking the f**k out. It was also a time when metal had moved away from Glam Metal and NWOBM and was talking much more influences from outside the genre. What we are talking about was a short lived genre of Groove Metal, before Nu Metal stole all its ideas. Its music that made you want to move every part of your body. This is what Urban Primate dish up by the bucket load. Its heavy as f**k, but by Hell those riffs are pure groove.

Tracks like ‘A Sacrifice’ are designed to get you moving, and that's what a good Metal song should do. Check out the verse on ‘Lies’, it holds back and keeps you locked into its riff, until the chorus just f**king hits you. Listen to their Anthrax riffage on ‘Lesson’ to see that the album is just track after track of solid classics, you can tell the bands that Urban Primate are influenced by... but this they make the songs their own. Although Urban Primate do talk up their Grunge influences, such as Alice in Chains, which can be heard all the way through the album they seem to capture some current Post-Grunge and contemporary Alternative Rock feelings too.

The current music vibe is for bass led Rock - from Nova Twins, Wargasm, Royal Blood etc, I have a feeling this zeitgeist has not gone unnoticed by Urban Primate. Having a listen to their bass tones and how it sits in the mix on ‘Walk Away’ shows they know what the current vibes are and will not just rest on Metal nostalgia, unlike a lot of other contemporaries. While vocals do remind me of John Bush era Anthrax, there is also a massive contemporary Alternative Rock vocal style mixed in there, comparable to current darlings Trash Boat ‘Don't you feel Amazing’. Just have a listen to ‘Let Go’, which is probably my favourite track of the album. Its damned hard to mix Classic Metal vocals with contemporary stuff and Benjamin Larsen is clearly an industry asset.

I also need to give a shout out to drummer Jakob Andressen for some incredible tight and well placed drumming, a good drummer always compliments a track and never just plays along with it. He really helps bring it all to life, and makes every track standout. My only critique of the album, and I will admits its hard to fault, is that I feel the songwriting just needs a few more big anthems and defining hooks to separate the tracks. Other than that, I have no complaints. Urban Primate have every tool in the box to make themselves one of the biggest bands out there, if they can keep releasing truly classic albums like this one.

Review by Jason Pearson