Mere weeks after the loss of noted xylophonist/stargazer Sir Patrick Moore, it seems an apt time for London five-piece Ursa Major, named after the “Great Bear” constellation, to release their début album ‘Old Bones’. The denotation “album” here is used in the loosest of senses, when in reality it’s seven songs and an intro track, but let’s not get bogged down in semantics. The band play a style of metalcore immensely popular towards the end of the last decade, blending the ferocity and relentless riffage of ‘The Poison’-era Bullet For My Valentine and Trivium with the heartfelt passionate vocal of the Howard Jones-fronted Killswitch Engage. Can it be true that this sound, that, to these experienced ears, came into the world seemingly only yesterday, sounds dated and antiquated? It can, and then some.
See, in the passing years since the ‘NWOAHM’ (generously lending Welshmen BFMV to America for simplicity purposes), metalcore has changed and redefined itself; slicker, more musically adventurous bands like Of Mice & Men, Asking Alexandria, The Devil Wears Prada and Bring Me The Horizon now spearhead the scene, appealing to a younger generation of heavy music fans. Though popular opinion amongst older music fans on these bands is completely polarised, it cannot be denied that these bands move major units, and a swathe of copycat bands follow suit to make the moolah. It happened when the aforementioned were at their popularity zenith – it just seems Ursa Major came along 5 years too late.
The music itself, although derivative and with a whiff of formulaic factory line assembly, isn’t awful – the clean and screamed vocals are pretty spot on, the riffs punishing in all the right places; hell, even some of the breakdown sections are worthy of a couple of air punches. There are no real standouts, no real weaknesses either; a solid, staid effort all around. There are notable parts, particularly when the band push themselves into experimenting a little, such as the climax on ‘Dead Eyes’, which puts one in the mind of ‘Suicide Season’-era BMTH, and the “woah”s at the end of ‘Clipped Wings’ are quite fun. As soon as a glimmer of invention begins to appear, it’s crushed by a wave of mediocrity and clichés. Fortunately, as this is only their first effort, the bland (sorry, band) have plenty of opportunity to shake things up on subsequent recordings, but for now, ‘Old Bones’ can be filed under “Old Hat”.
2.5/5
‘Old Bones’ by Ursa Major is released on 10th March.
Ursa Major links: Facebook
Words by Ollie Connors (@olliexcore)
