„They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.“ In the case of UNRU, time has and will always be of essence! May that be in the long-time process of creating their very art, letting it grow and ferment like fine wine; be it the duration of the songs and the aspect of revision in the actual music itself; or just the bending of time, room and matter the sheer force of UNRU’s sound is able to achieve.
Founded in Bielefeld, Germany in 2012, UNRU made an immediate deep impact with their monumental MMXIII demo (re-released on vinyl by Supreme Chaos Records in 2018), to be evolved upon by split recordings with PARAMNESIA, SUN WORSHIP and TONGUE, as well as their disturbing and ferocious debut full length album Als Tier ist der Mensch nichts in 2016.
Babylon Doom Cult Records and UNRU are proud to announce the release of Die Wiederkehr des Verdrängten – six years in the making, countless hours devoted to revise, retain, revolt, reinvent and survive. It took UNRU strength and time to craft a worthy successor to Als Tier ist der Mensch nichts, yet with Die Wiederkehr des Verdrängten the now 5-piece band finally unleash their second album as a grandiose statement: an unstoppable maelstrom of sound; a five-song sonic tour-de-force, which, aside from the band’s trademark sound, leaves behind the band’s early traces of chaotic German 90’s hardcore or American apocalyptic crust, further opening up the gates of ever so deep blackened gloom and fury, and balancing dissonance and harmony to sheer perfection. This album is the distilled essence of all their prior releases, sounding the most black metal the band has ever sounded, without once stumbling into traps of worn out paths this genre ever so often sets. Five emotional songs fueled by the question of what actual freedom and revolution is within the individual as well as the societal I. The five songs reformulate UNRU’s pillars of furious black metal, blackened doom, fragile ambient and glorious Mount Eerie-esque immortality to an amalgamation of emotional purity and existential angst.
After their first EP „Armament“ in 2021, German Black Metal punks RANĂ returned in 2023 at full force in collaboration with the Berlin-based label Breath:Sun:Bone:Blood to release their first full-length named „Richtfeuer“. In 2024 the band further joined forces with Fucking Kill Records to issue Richtfeuer on LP.
The German term „Richtfeuer“ translates to “Leading Fire”, and that is exactly what this album does… Leading us into the burning down of this world with the hope of building a better one. Five tracks of raging black metal punctuated with elements of d-beat driven neo-crust, chanted cascadian atmospheres, and mournfully oppressive doom, laced with melancholic guitar themes and vocal desperation.
Starting with the devastating and crushing power of the 11 minute opener „Läutern“, RANĂ sets the course for the coming 40 minute despair riddled assault. „Flamura“, the second track sets the tone with a more d-beat blackened crust tone which quickly deteriorates into furious blast beats… Desperation and urgency creating a feeling of relentless anxiety. The third track „Richtfeuer“ opens with chanted vocals and mournful picked guitars that devolve into slabs of doom thrown at the listener, with heartbreaking melodic lines supported and then obliterated by black buzz. The fourth track „Our Smouldering Grief“ features melancholic guitar lines weaving in and out of hope and despair, balancing between life and death.
The final chapter „Im Brand“ is the albums closing aural assault: it leaves the listener in a pile of ash and rubble, tripping over the remnants of the world and frameworks this album wishes to destroy. And deeply ingrained in the gut-wrenching grief of this album is a hopeless call to arms. A futile attempt to strive and rebel to find a crack in the circle…. And to find solace in potentially failing in the process, only to rise again, burning. RANĂ have already proven that their live shows are in no way inferior to the quality of the digital release. The band already performed „Richtfeuer“ at festivals like Hell over Hammaburg, Culthe Fest, ScullCrusher, Lichtlärm Fest and Masters of the Unicorns, as well as one-off gigs/tours with AHAB, Wiegedood, Blood Incantation and Beltez and Karloff.