MÚR

Discussion on the Icelandic metal scene usually begins with SÓLSTAFIR, SKÁLMÖLD and KONTINUUM, with additional bonus points to anyone who remembers POTENTIAM. It's a small country that is artistically adrift from whatever is going on in mainland Scandinavia, hence, why it's of little surprise that its latest entrant, MÚR, comes out of the gates like the hafgúfa, the mythological sea creature that resembled a whale.

The run-up to the band's self-titled debut is brief. Some of the members of MÚR have known each other since high school and played in adjacent bands, culminating in their 2021 rollout and subsequent Icelandic Wacken Metal Battle victory. (They placed fourth in the international finale.) To the real matter at hand: MÚR, sonically, addresses any number of Devin Townsend's productions (it's a near replicant, which is one of the few knocks here) and GOJIRA's more chest-beating moments, all without taking the bait on the various "core" style flavors that would water down their sound.

The album's opening cut, "Eldhaf" is somewhat misleading, for it's the only number here with full melodic breadth. The rest of the album is brash and burly, dotted with native-sung harsh vocals and punctuating keyboard lines, which rise up on the excellent "Vitrun" and "Messa", both of which offer up a nice diversion from the band's basic, grueling riff arrangements.

Two ten-minute-plus cuts conclude this self-titled affair. After a steady build-up, "Heimsslit" overwhelms with a foreboding, air-raid siren lead riff that glides into syncopation for pure cinematic effect. Album closer "Holskefla" instead is all-jugular for ten minutes and change, with a spiraling lead melody finally breaking through near the end. Appropriately, both cuts are massive capstones.

MÚR don't quite have the identifiable stamp as some of their countrymen and that's fine — the band is just a few years old. However, the seven songs here are weighty and often unforgiving, making one wonder if more forays like (the very-Townsend like) "Eldhaf" are on the way or if MÚR will just carry on wrecking everything in sight.