RSS Feed


URDZA
A War With Myself

Self-released (2024)
Rating: 7/10

There’s something decidedly funky about the opening title track on this debut full-length offering from Brazilian thrashers Urdza. Galloping straight from 1991, mainly due to the hip percussion of Dan Abreu and strutting axe work from Hugo do Prado and Rodrigo Adwent, ‘A War With Myself’ feels a little tepid and tinny, but once Heitor Prado’s vocals establish themselves the São Paulo-based band takes on a more traditional metallic style.

Even so, A War With Myself is somewhat of a mixed bag that’s never as robust as it promises. The percussion is all too tinny and the riffs lack weight as the combo struggles to make any sort of impact, although it’s not as if they aren’t trying. ‘Wrath Of God’ introduces itself by way of a slick riff, almost New Wave Of British Heavy Metal in style, it’s just a shame there’s no punch or warmth to the production, but Urdza still manages to straddle the line between heavy metal and thrash.

‘Damnation’ is a good example of the band applying pace to the point of resulting in a crossover thrash haste, particularly in the snappy vocal delivery. However, ‘Dawn Predator’ manages to fuse a nifty power metal pace with something akin to Overkill, meaning that Urdza applies plenty of melody with whichever style they construct. Okay, so it’s not exactly fierce heavy metal and again I point to the production which if punchier would have enabled the struttin’ ‘Sinner Or Liar’ to have benefitted more. Even so, said track once again nods towards something initially funky circa the early 90s, as does ‘Living In Fear’ which is not a world away from Mordred.

I have to say that as the album unravels the more enjoyable it gets, especially the performance from Dan Abreu. It’s almost a crime that the instruments lack weight but hopefully, now the band has been made aware, it’s something the Urdza and their team can correct. Considering I expected this to be a generic war obsessed traditional metal outing, A War With Myself, in spite of its flaws, isn’t bad at all.

Neil Arnold

<< Back to Album & EP Reviews



Related Posts via Categories
Share