Review Summary: Looks like meat's back on the menu boys.
The year is 2030 and human sacrifice has been legalized. The population must be curbed so in response to the expanding population factories have been built for the sole purpose of human extermination. The human cattle are being marched into a corridor in a single file line, any attempt to escape just results in a quicker death. The process of dehumanization is a barbaric display of force and mechanized efficiency with the machine cutting through bone like a serrated knife going through a rare piece of steak. The sounds being created during this imaginatively grueling process could be linked to the Ep I'm reviewing today. Forgotten Bones by the Philadelphia based sonic extremist Uranium.
Earlier this year I covered one of Uranium's most recent albums, 2023's Pure Nuclear Death, and I was instantly enthralled by their harsh soundscape. Melding influences from noise, industrial and black metal, Uranium became a band to champion. Their blend of influences from sounds and genre heavyweights attracted me to the chaos. Fast forward to 2024 and Uranium dropped a blistering EP that further expands on the rhythmic and atmospheric approach Uranium has showed us before. Still pulling influences from such luminaries like Godflesh, Attrition and Gnaw Their Tongues, Uranium has taken their songwriting to the next level. The first track Forgotten Bones pulverizes your bloodied husk of body with a blistering drumming assault before industrial swells and harsh animalistic growls add even more intensity to the mix. Tempos range from slow to fast before settling in a groovy, head snapping rhythm. The next track Outer Dominions breaks away from the sonic beatdown for a bit, opting for a more eerie dark ambient approach to set the mood. Needless to say, the calm before the storm quickly devolves into another series of harsh movements. Crawling at a doom metal pace with the riffs, electronics and shadowy vocals, this song represents to me the final march of the human, just lumbering willingly into death's embrace. About 6 minutes in the song's tempo picks up in speed and intensity as the next round of humanity starts getting curbed again. Some more interesting atmospheric flourishes close out the track in an almost celestial or melodic manner. An element of the alien or the unknown enters the fray before morphing into the EP's final track. Negative Vacuum also begins at a slow crawl, but this time finishes at a slow crawl as well. With some unintelligible voiceover syncing up with various sound effects and ominous percussion, it’s safe to say the restaurant has closed for the night and all that’s left is to pick up the body parts, clean up the blood, and sanitize the floors for the next day of work so opening shift will be ready to roll.
In three tracks covering about 25 minutes of ground, Uranium have reinforced their sound by strengthening their songwriting and adding more tension to the dynamics while staying distinctly brutal. The feral intensity of this band is unparalleled and this EP Forgotten Bones manifests all of the best elements that black metal, doom, noise, dark ambient and death industrial have to offer into one skin peeling exercise of depravity and I can't wait to see what else lies in store for this band.
