Review by Felix on March 30, 2025.

Misanthropic bitterness and total grimness are two of the usual ingredients when it comes to black metal. High speed and sharp riffs can typically be found when we speak about thrash. Urn's new album Demon Steel represents the eternally ugly bastard genre black thrash, but as amazing as it is – the aforementioned four components do not play a very significant role here. Instead, the material of the Finnish horde has a melancholic touch from time to time, while simultaneously a certain coolness shimmers though the notes. Urn are by no means self-ironic, but they do not become one with the style they perform, at least not as an end in itself, and this distanced approach, another amazing finding, does not hurt their authenticity or the sinister heaviness of the material.

"Wings Of Inferno" marks the melancholic highlight of the album. Its opening melody fragment is wiped away by biting guitars, but the pretty harmonic verse gains the upper hand quickly. A sad and wistful bridge as well as the triumphant yet desperate chorus add even more value to the song and the "carry me faaar" screams send shivers down my spine. The casual side of Urn shimmers through the lines of "Are You Friends With Your Demons". Don't be fooled by its up-tempo hammering, the chorus has almost poppy earworm qualities. Feel free to insult me right now – but this wording is a compliment for once, because the smoothness of the song's flow results in a very coherent and catchy yet abysmal listening experience. These two tracks are probably those with the most surprising vibes, but the more expectedly arranged pieces have something to say as well.

"Heir Of Tyrants", the first regular number, starts with menacing, thrashing guitar tones like a bulldog pulling on the chain in front of its kennel. Albeit this song also houses a quite melodic instrumental part, it leaves no doubt that the four-piece still stands knee-deep in the morass of moral depravity. Nevertheless, the more or less almost warm sound adds a charming component even for mainstream (metal) listeners. But those who like it edgy do not need to fear a polished production; it's just a professional one which brings all elements into their own. Only Moonblood fetishists, who prefer to go to their damp, mouldy crypt for a good night's rest, should keep their hands off Demon Steel.

Despite a lot of good tracks and the different moods the band covers, their sixth full-length is not an outstanding milestone, because a few comparatively unexciting tracks have sneaked into the tracklist as well. "Burning Blood's Curse" or "Iron Star" are okay, but nothing more, and the latter cannot keep the promise that the air raid siren makes at the beginning. Anyway, Demon Steel meets the pretty high expectations, because it houses enough killers that show the unbroken potential of the semi-legendary formation. "Ruthless Paranoia" is just one of them. It's simply a pleasure to hear how its intensive verses flow into a catchy, harmonic yet violent chorus. "Cold Void Skin" with its Deströyer 666 compatible guitar leads turns out to be another candidate for my private best of Urn tape (little nostalgic reminiscence). So at the end of the nearly 44 minutes, it is clear that mastermind Sulphur did not only contribute strong, malignant vocals to Demon Steel. He also presents a line-up that convinces as a whole. Therefore it does not come as a surprise that the great musicality, the tight interaction and the coherent overall picture make this release, despite its little weaknesses, to a highly welcome extension of the band's discography.

Rating: 7.8 out of 10

Review by Rosh on October 29, 2021.

Although no one's ever come after me for it, I get the sense that my immense liking for Orange Goblin might be perceived as a bit tacky, considering they've continued to champion a genre that saw its own its rise and fall within just over a decade. I'm of course talking about stoner rock, which, as Riffipedia and every Dopesmoker fan reminds us, is a convoluted genre tag that correlates with many other styles from the heavy rock and doom ecosystem. Though this means that "pure" stoner rock is often hard to differentiate from stoner/doom, modern stoner-sludge, heavy psych, and what have you, Orange Goblin make themselves distinct by working tried and true heavy metal elements into their vintage stoner sound. The result is a truly classy heavy/stoner metal act who prove time and time again that it's not just a hipster's genre, and furthermore, that stoner stuff can be and is highly relevant to the heavy metal canon. Though often overlooked since its release, I see 2014's Back From The Abyss as being perhaps the best example of hook-based stoner rock meeting suitably accessible traditional metal in recent years.

Part of the reason for this success is that Orange Goblin are able to put the heavy metal in their sound first, often using colorful imagery and, as I've said, groovy hooks to create a stoner feel - something that makes the music come off as an authentic and essential heavy metal experience. This is especially true on this album as compared to their Rise Above Records albums which were, to be fair, more fuzzed-out and trippy than Back From The Abyss; this 2014 album has cleaner production as well which actually makes it more immediate to first-time Orange Goblin listeners. What's funny though, is Orange Goblin don't change their musical style considerably from album to album, and yet they have a discography that works wonders when weighing their catalog of albums against one another. It's always been hook-based, fun stuff with a palpable influence coming from the less doomed side of early Sabbath. Ben's slightly hoarse vocals, meanwhile, have always suited the music appropriately since it is balls-out stuff. He's a cross between Lee on the more upbeat Cathedral albums and John Garcia of Kyuss, which is a kick-ass combo for heavy/stoner metal.

I would say, though, that Back From The Abyss is a culmination of the songwriting put forth on its predecessor, 2012's A Eulogy For The Damned, this time making for a more coherent album. Orange Goblin's early writing peaks like Time Travelling Blues and The Big Black were remarkable for the more "stoner-oriented" style, and they're the only albums I own by the band other than this one, which as of right now is good enough for me. Reason being, this album is their third writing peak after those two consecutive Rise Above albums, and it's also the best that their newer era has to offer - The Wolf Bites Back from 2018 was awesome too but offers a more concise album approach as opposed to the larger than life tracklist here. At any rate, detailing the way Back From The Abyss fits into such a likable metal band's discography makes good foreground for discussing the tunes included on the album.

The opening suite of tracks is killer - groovy bangers like 'Ubermensch' pave the way for the tracks which are longer in length and bigger in scale like 'Heavy Lies The Crown' and 'Into The Arms Of Morpheus'. It's a killer formula that makes deep cuts like 'Mythical Knives' feel all the more welcome. Aside from the oddly placed instrumentals at the end (one is fine, but two of them are unnecessary and take away some momentum here), this is the textbook example of how to execute a longer album, and stoner, heavy, and doom metal bands should all take notes. 'Demon Blues' is a fantastic highlight from this album, as well. It starts off with a catchy and upbeat gallop, but quickly heads for bluesier territory. I would say that this track, especially due to where it's placed on the album, makes the listening experience as strong as it is. You can really tell that each of these songs, despite being more accessible in the metal world as a whole, would fit well into an Orange Goblin live set alongside songs these guys wrote long before. This might be one reason Orange Goblin are well-noted for their shows. I definitely want to see them pretty badly.

This album is certainly an example of a consistent band being consistent, but it's sadly overlooked in favor of their older stuff. I think this might have something to do with this album being a bit more heavy metal than stoner, but it is still a very good piece of heavy/stoner metal. It's got enough balls to satisfy fans of Motörhead, but it's also quite chilled out at other times. This is a good example of why I think Orange Goblin are a class-act and a formidable entity in heavy metal today.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10

Review by Adam M on September 28, 2017.

Orange Goblin has the power to perform strong stoner styled metal. The music is catchy and rollicking in nature. It is also very rooted in the stoner metal genre instead of doom, which makes it sort of distinctive in sound. The band seems to have a lot of fun performing these tracks, which is impressive.

Even though I haven’t heard this band live, I imagine this passion would translate well to this style of performance. The songs are very memorable and feature licks that one will want to remember. The problem with this music is that it would begin to sound the same and there certainly isn’t the same impact to be found with this album as with A Eulogy of the Damned. At the time, that album stormed out of the gates and completely captured my attention, while this work only captures my attention in a semi fashion. The very first song Sabbath Hex seems to be the most memorable of the bunch and get things off to a good start. Though the music is uplifting, I still felt more involved in the band’s Eulogy of the Damned.

This really is music to head bang along to, though and many of the moments of this disc made me want to do so. There is simply a pure enjoyment vibe to the band that is hard to pinpoint, but so much of a joy to listen to. The band is about as fun to listen to as Electric Wizard and though I’m comparing them to a doom band, both outfits seem to have an equal amount of fun producing their music. Fans of the band’s previous outings will no doubt enjoy this too, even though there isn’t much new to be found here. Back From The Abyss is still an enthusiastic good time.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10