URNE
Words: Letty Sharp
Urne have spent the last few years whipping up a firestorm of grit, swagger and grandiosity.
Snarling hardcore, extreme inflections, and a strong sense of heavy metal's inherent classicism,
all burn together within Urne's burial chamber and propel the band forward. With forthcoming
album Setting Fire to the Sky, set for release in January 2026, their incandescent form of modern metal promises to become a supernova.
Debut album Serpent & Spirit (2021) pierced the malaise of the pandemic years like a giant
Luciferian star rising, or maybe falling, in the sky. Produced by Gojira's Joe Duplantier, 2023's A Feast on Sorrow sharpened Urne's blade and made for a raw excavation of grief at losing loved ones, and the horror of a vanishing sense of oneself. The album paved the way for a whole new audience for the band, gigging with Avatar, Alien Weaponry and Kvelertak, conducting their own headline tours, and appearing at a slew of festival dates.
Something has changed for Urne on Setting Fire to the Sky. It's right there at the outset as opener 'Be Not Dismayed' smashes Metallica's 'Battery' into Machine Head's 'Clenching the Fists of Dissent: Urne has often been compared with metal's elite, including the complexity and ambition of Mastodon. The album's first single is the nine-minute-plus undulating epic, 'Harken The Waves' featuring guest vocals from Mactorion's Troy Sanders. The band are heading on a UK, Ireland and EU tour starting the 15th of November with Moon Reaper and The Grey.
I got to sit down with vocalist and bassist Joe Nally where we talked about the band's new
album, 'Setting Fire To The Sky', the bands upcoming tour and their new beer, 'Beer Not
Dismayed'.
For the readers who might not have heard of you before, could you introduce
yourself and your role in Urne?
I play bass and am the lead vocalist for Urne. We are a UK heavy metal
Band, from different parts of the UK and beyond. There's four of us now and we're doing well.
Yes, you are doing well. I listened to the new album. Absolutely stellar. Congratulations.
Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Yeah, it's gone down well, but it feels like so long
ago. I don't think I'll ever release an album in January again. It just feels like it was, I don't know,
it feels like maybe it's too early in the year for me.
Urne came over to Dublin last year with Orange Goblin. How was that show?
I know it was a bit stressful.
Yeah, we had a nightmare crossing over, ferry cancellations during a storm and that was
pretty surreal. And then there was very heavy traffic trying to get to Dublin. Then we got to
Dublin and the tram system was down. People took to their cars, to the
buses and it all just became a nightmare. It was fine when we got in there, but honestly it was a
blur and it's such a shame. it's just like I've got friends and like old family bits and bobs over there and I thought I'd have a couple of hours to myself and in the end, it just was a blur. So yeah, annoying.
How was that whole tour in general?
It was great fun. It was great. It was some great venues, and it was great to get out
with the Orange Goblin guys again. They gave us our first real tour but we never got to complete that due to COVID. So, it was nice to complete it this time. And some
amazing venues, some great experiences. And it's good, a bit of a different mixture for us. We
have a certain sound, and we always seem to kind of struggle to get like for like tours but we like the challenge, we like going out on something that's a bit different. We like touring around Christmas. It's our thing. So, we always try to get late November or December.
It's a lovely time of year to be around as well. I just think there's something nice in the air.
Yeah, Oh, absolutely. And everyone's kind of getting excited. So, but yeah, it was a great,
great run, great fun.
Your UK and Ireland tour kicks off this month with the Grey and Moon Reaper, if I'm not mistaken, with two stops in Dublin and Belfast. Are you excited?
Yeah, I am. It's a very different time touring for bands though. You know, it's weird. There's so many tickets that you know you're getting priced out of. So, people are saving their money for them to go and watch a band who's probably worth £50, but we're now £150. And it's kind of a weird landscape at the moment. But you know, for me, I try not to stress about that. I like the people I'm in a band with. We're all very good friends. So, I just get bugs to hang out with them, get to meet new people, get to meet new fans, go to new venues, get to see friends and family all over the place. So it's good. I just like touring really.
Speaking of ticket prices being reached out of, Fall Out Boy have announced their UK and Europe tour. €96 for standing and VIP €624.
I don't get it. I don't get...It makes me laugh like...I see some ticket prices and what people
pay for things. And a few years ago, I saw Gojira and it was like 34 quid at Ally Pally. And that's
better than any heavy band live going. There's some mad ones. But I did see U2. That show's gone on sale and it's like the standing, general standing. It's like £400 or something. Fuck it, fair, fair, look, if people pay it, whatever, mad, you're mad. But, yeah, it's an interesting time and it's just it's probably a worrying time really.
Speaking of Gojira, I know they did a couple of shows in America for around
that same price point of like $35. So, they've consistently kept it low.
Yeah, I mean, I don't know how long that stayed because there's so much that goes into
making that show and the cost, it's not the cost of everything. The cost of getting pyro goes up,
the cost of this, the cost of that. But then you see the mad people charging ruthless amounts of money to see a show of theirs. And it's a shame.
Your new album, Setting Fire to the Sky, came out in January. We touched upon it earlier. How was the recording for it?
It was great, great fun. We recorded with Justin from SikTh. Really relaxed. The last
few albums we've travelled for, not really had our home base. Whereas this time we kind of did
it close to London. So, every day we were kind of coming home. And it was lovely. It was a nice
experience. Really relaxed, really chilled. Justin's an amazing guy. And yeah, honestly, it just felt so smooth and effortless doing this album. Every album we've had great fun, but sometimes it is nicest to go home for the night, you know? Don't be wrong, I had no problem going out in Brooklyn every night and getting pissed, that was amazing. But sometimes it is nicest to go to your home comforts.
I really enjoyed the album as well. What's your favourite song to play from it?
We're going to be playing the title track on the album and it's very good. It's very exciting to play. It's cool. It's got some really cool parts. So, at the moment it's probably that.
You've just also announced a beer, 'Beer Not Dismayed', how did that whole idea come about?
It's really kind of funny, really. I was out in a pub. A little kind of cool quirky pub where
they sell not your everyday sort of traditional, let's go in and find a Guinness, and fuckin'
Stella beers. It's just a pub that does micro beers. I'm with a friend who knows his ales and I just gotten an e-mail from the Black Irish Brewery. Do you know it?, I asked him. “This is the Black Irish Brewery,” he says, looking around the room. What a coincidence. And do you know what? Everyone I know who's had it so far loves it. And I never got to taste it. The other boys went and tested it and tried it out. And it's lovely. It's a sour. Once you start tasting it the bitter bite of a sour is gone, It's a really easy drink to drink. Probably perfect in the summer. Maybe we should have released a bit of a moody stout or porter for the winter. But yeah, it's lovely. It's really cool to have as well. I will say that.
Yeah, I always love it when bands and artists team up with alcoholic beverages.
Yeah, it's cool. And Hot sauces too!
What does it pair well with?
Do you know what, at the moment, it probably pairs well with the sun, but we ain't got any
of it. But yeah, I don't know. I haven't thought about it. My taste buds haven't found what it
should go with yet. But let me tell you, once that suns out, I'll be cracking a few more cans of it.
Is it a limited run?
I have no idea. I think it really depends on how well it does. And then maybe once that's
sold out, maybe we can do a darker drink, a stout, a porter, what have you. Maybe see how it
goes?
Will it be available at the merch table for the gigs?
It'd be very, very, very limited. I don't know about the ship taking it over to Ireland though.It might just be available in England and Scotland. I don't know the real ins and outs. I just want to avoid that. So if we have some left, I'll probably drink it.
Do you have any favourite album releases of 2026 so far or any that you're looking forward to next year?
Oh, I am. So my favourite thing so far this year is a guy called Jalen Ngonda. His new album and the live album, George Michael on the Faith Tour in 1987, that's just been released is amazing. And next year is a band called Gang of Youths who are an Australian band who are like just a unique, wonderful band. They just announced their new album. The new Mastodon album was really cool, but I feel really bad. I'm so bad with listening to music. I still listen to the stuff that made me happy when I was younger.
There's just so much out there now, which is really cool, but it's also overwhelming at the same time.
I agree fully. I really agree.
I looked last Friday when albums were out and I think there were 10 in my Spotify recommendations. I was like, how am I going to get through all of these?
Yeah, it is mad. And I think sadly a lot of great bands might get lost within all of that. But
yeah, I find that I just get a lot of comfort in just listening to the classics when I was a kid.
So what's been on your rotation?
Operation Mindcrime by Queensrÿche, Rainbow Live in Cologne, which got released this
year, but it's record1977, George Michael Faith Tour, the Urne set that I'm having to
remember the lyrics. God. Yeah, I'll tell you at the moment, I'm really leaning a lot into
Queensrÿche, Operation Mind Crime and Empire albums. But yeah, I've always got stuff
on shuffle to be fair. I tell you what, there's old, like, thrash legends called Forbidden. That new album is really cool, very, very interesting, very technical, very proggy, thrashy when it needs to be thrashy, but very interesting.
You've educated me. I didn't even know they were releasing new music.
No, it's just literally 2 weeks ago. So yeah, very, very cool. Like I say, very technical. Got
Brann from Mastodon's things on the track as well. So yeah, really worth a listen.
Do you have any advice for anyone wanting to start a band in 2026?
Yeah. Get people around you that have the same interests, but also that you get along with.
I've been in a band with lots of people. I've been in bands with great musicians and it just didn't
quite work. I might have been a pain in the arse, they might have been a pain in the arse but I'm
now in a band where they're all great musicians, not including myself in that, I'm a blagger.
They're my mates and we've known each other for years and I get to travel to the UK, Europe, wherever. And I get to experience amazing things with my mates. And then we're like, oh yeah, we're playing a show tonight. So get like-minded people and just enjoy it. Enjoy it. Like I never thought nothing would be when I started my first proper band when I was a young teenager. And you think you're going to do this, you think you're going to do that. You're talking, you're writing your school books and on the way home with your mates discussing this and that. And then that fades away, sadly, But then all these years later, I'm in a band with my mates who have been my mates for 15, 20 years, and it's the best feeling. It's the best experience.
I've been in a few bands and unfortunately, we never got to the stage of recording stuff,
but I still remember that feeling of, we're going to do 4-hour practice, we're going to nail it, we're going to nail the set list, blah, blah, blah. Some of the best memories.
Yeah, and that's before you lose the innocence of it, you know. And it's just fun. And I look back on them times and I talked to some of the guys I was in my first band with. And we still crack up and people remember different things. It was never about really the writing of new music. It was the things that happened around it. And it was always an amazing time.
100%. Joe, thank you for taking the time to chat with me.
Yeah, no problem. Thank you for having me.
The band are playing The Grand Social the 23rd of November and Voodoo in Belfast the 24th
Tickets are still available for both dates on the band's website.
