23rd July 2026

Review: “Tempest / Wisp” by Uragh

The past four years have been an incredible journey down the left hand path for Irish Progressive Metal quartet Uragh. Formed in 2022, they won Metal 2 The Masses and playing the New Blood Stage at Bloodstock Open Air Festival in 2023 before the grand unveiling of their debut album “Maelstrom” in April 2024. An incredible record, it was not only well received but potent enough to get them into the Wacken Metal Battle Ireland for a chance to play Wacken Open Air Festival that same year, something which they did having won that competition in style. Maintaining perpetual forward motion they then recorded EP “Stalemate” in 2025, a record which would go on to appear on more than one EP of the year awards list.

Produced by Josh Sid Robinson (Lock Horns, Survivalist, Archives) at JSR Audio and adorned by artwork from Kirk Kelly (Partholón, Tooms), the next burnt offering from vocalist Craig Murphy, guitarist Marcelo Varge, bassist Sebastian Sparr and drummer Jason Hodgkins is a pair of tracks which by design are opposing forces and find Anaïs Chareyre-Méjan of Domhain providing not only guest vocals but also cello.

The first of those is “Tempest” which is classic Uragh, a fast, heavy cut with a lyrical narrative that gives you pause for thought once the neck snapping is done because it’s not only intelligent but cleverly constructed. The cover artwork mirrors the songs dark and blooding atmosphere, the crushing weighty riffs and thunderous percussion sounding very much like waves crashing on the rocks during a violent storm in the dead of night, a little cello in the final throes adding a sombre touch to the powerful rhythms. The intriguing piece of this puzzle however is a its black beating heart. The decision to side step the opportunity for a solo of Melodic Death Metal proportions and instead offer up a Mathcore inspired off kilter breakdown that sounds like something SikTh or perhaps The Dillinger Escape plan would do making for a masterful, if left field moment of pure class.

Acoustic guitars and a spoken word passage in French from Chareyre-Méjan introduces “Wisp” before flamenco leads and ethereal choral parts open the minds eye to the bands Folk Metal inspirations. A soul stirring piece with Scandinavian roots and a haunting quality, it’s a quieter almost eerie song that showcases the bands ability to create atmosphere and if you heard it on a film score it would come as no surprise, such is the quality. As a concept it’s not entirely new, the four piece building on ideas that fleetingly appeared on their debut album and in “Time Heals Nothing” from last years EP “Stalemate“. The difference here is that rather than offering a glimpse at what could be, they have given the idea wings and it has taken to flight majestically [8/10]

Track Listing