Urizen’s Universe
urizenonline.com
By Ken Shimamoto
Proggy metalers Urizen exemplify DIY-ism. They handle all aspects of their record-making process, from recording and mixing to photography and design. Starting out as a Denver-based black metal outfit called Dunwich Horror, Texas expats Thomas Drinnen (guitar/vox) and his art school victim brother Daniel Drinnen (keys/vox) had been a band for four years when they trekked down to Arlington to see a 2003 show by Norwegians Dimmu Borgir. It was there that they met Julio Escamilla, a Mexico City-born Fort Worthian who’d developed phenomenal percussion chops beating the shit out of his drums in the garage, and Urizen was born, taking its name from William Blake’s signifier of law and convention.
The Drinnens soon wised up and relocated to the Metromess, and in 2005, they self-released the ambitious concept album Autocratopolis to raves from local and metal critics. Their sound is unusually keyboard-heavy and forsakes the growls and screams of black metal for a cleaner (and hopefully less audience-alienating) vocal approach; their live show (featuring a robot!) is downright theatrical. On Friday, December 21st, they’ll roll out their new five-song E.P., Universe, in a Ridglea Theater extravaganza that’ll also feature Last of the Heroes, Subversion, and Bat Castle.
Urizen’s Universe begins with “A Noiseless Flash” (the Big Bang?), opening with a dramatic prelude that sounds like video game music (a recurring theme here), all arpeggios and synth string flourishes over a bolero riddim, before the pummeling guitar and drums enter along with Thomas Drinnen’s Mars Volta-like vox. Curiously, the track fades out on a verse in progress. On “A Budding Consciousness,” Thomas declaims with Germanic angst (“Every moment it worsens/This thickening awareness/Cluttering and corrupting my peace/The wretched questions/With seemingly no end”) in between harmonized keyboard-and-guitar exchanges over drumming so fast and furious it sounds sped-up (but it’s not).
Things slow down with the ruminative instrumental interlude “An Unfortunate Realization” before “A New Revelation” pumps up the intensity again, showcasing all of Urizen’s signature strengths: complexity, aggression and a certain amount of self-deprecating humor (as when Thomas translates for the robot: “The landscape of your future is truly a matter of limitless potential…and that’s good”). The real revelation, though, comes on the closing “Nothing Is Epic,” which features a soulful Thomas Drinnen vocal that’s about as far from black metal as one could imagine (without getting, y’know, all emo and stuff). Sounds like something the resurgent 97.1-FM “The Eagle” might wanna add to their playlist. With each outing, Urizen reveals new facets.