(written by Islander)
Urisk are a black metal duo from Bonn, Germany, formed in 2023 by Benedikt Brixius and Marleen Bügener. They have very specific and heart-felt inspirations, which we’ll get to momentarily, and they’ve wasted no time in musically expressing them: Following a debut demo released in the fall of 2024, they released a debut album named Shrivelling Lights in 2025, and a second demo at the end of that same year.
Those were independent releases, but Urisk have now partnered with Vendetta Records for the release of their second album on October 2nd. Its name is CALL, and today we’re premiering a lyric video for its first and only single in advance of the album drop. The name of this song is “The Hauled and the Waif“.
Urisk live band
But first, here’s the detail we promised about Urisk’s inspirations and intentions, drawn from press materials we’ve received:
“Their music brings together traditional black metal, progressive structures and atmospheric passages, with lyrics shaped by personal despair, environmental themes, Celtic folklore and myth.
“With CALL, Urisk deal with the loss of wilderness, Gaelic culture and the mythical in Scotland and beyond. The title carries two meanings: the Scottish Gaelic call, meaning ‘loss’, and the English ‘call’, understood as a voice reaching out to remember what has been pushed aside or erased.
“The album moves between grief, anger and the hope of return. Across its seven tracks, Urisk write about ecological and cultural loss as connected things: disappearing wild species, damaged seas and forests, lost languages, broken traditions and older ways of living with the land. These themes are carried through long atmospheric black metal songs, harsh vocals, layered guitars and moments of folk-rooted darkness.”
The song we’re presenting today is in line with these themes. Here is how Urisk introduce it to listeners:
The almost 10-minutes-long moody and atmospheric track, ranges from slow and melancholic passages to crushing black doom, eventually culminating in an outburst of fast-paced drumming and post-black guitar parts.
Through its imagery of a wounded sea, themes of disappearing species and human exploitation “The Hauled and the Waif” ties in with CALL’s wider subject matters of ecological grief and estrangement from the more-than-human world.
The song begins with the waif returning to an empty ocean, reaching for relics, memories, and traces of a world slipping beyond reach. It ends with the return of the sea.
By now you probably have all you need to know in deciding whether to spend time with this new song and video. But it’s such a powerfully moving song that this listener feels a powerful need to express how it affected him.
As Urisk have foretold, the song is a long one that traverses changing moods and soundscapes. Through eloquently haunting lyrics, ethereal singing that beautifully arcs high, and a melancholy folkloric melody backed by shimmering synths, it expresses feelings of profound loss and regret through a spellbinding but undeniably wounded musical experience.
Yet as also foretold by the band, the song becomes massively heavier and more intensely grief-stricken. Distorted guitars groan and wail a stricken harmony around punishing percussive blows. Shattering black-metal howls take over the words, and the riffing writhes and roils, desolate and disturbing in its effects.
Suddenly, the music becomes gentle and mystical once more, and just as suddenly it explodes in a storm of gale-force riffing, blast-beat fury, vividly rippling leads, searing keys, and vocals that howl, roar, and scream with spine-tingling intensity. It is the call for the sea to return, a wholly engulfing and desperate call.
The music changes again, providing vivid drum progressions and throbbing chords that sound forlorn but also perhaps hopeful. Yet the intensity swells again, with drums booming and the combined guitars and synths creating a ravishing oceanic flood of sound, as vast and untamed as nature itself.
You’ll see the affecting words in the video, but also a sequence of stunning oceanic visuals that align beautifully with the changing music.
CALL Recording Lineup:
Marleen Bügener – All Vocals
Benedikt Brixius – Guitars, Bass, Accordion, Synths, Programming
Pepe Roldan Duran – Drums
URISK Performing Lineup:
Marleen – Vocals
Benedikt – Guitar
Christoph – Guitar / Live Member
Marius – Bass / Live Member
Pepe – Drums / Live Member
CALL was produced and recorded by Benedikt Brixius at The Den in Bonn. It was mixed and mastered by Fabian Schulz at Sunsetter Recording Studio in Bremen. Drums were recorded and edited by Mario Dahmen at Liquid Aether Studios in Schleiden, with additional drum editing by Fabian Schulz. The album’s cover art was created by Theopisti Tiftikoglou / Ikosidio.
Vendetta will release CALL on vinyl LP, CD, and digital formats, and recommends it for fans of: Ultha, Afsky, Beltez, Grab, and Friisk. For more info as the October 2nd release date draws near, check the locations linked below — and after the links we’ve included Urisk’s current tour schedule in October.
VENDETTA RECORDS:
https://linktr.ee/vendettarecs
URISK:
Website: https://urisk-metal.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/urisk.band/
Facebook: https://facebook.com/urisk.band
Bandcamp: https://urisk.bandcamp.com/
URISK TOUR DATES:
02.10.2026 – Sixth Circle Fest, JKC Troisdorf, album release show, Germany
10.10.2026 – Cult over Weyhe, Trafo Kirchwayhe, Germany
15.10.2026 – Neue Zukunft, Berlin, Germany
16.10.2026 – Conserve, Leipzig, Germany
17.10.2026 – JZ Stricker, Bielefeld, Germany
18.10.2026 – Alte VHS, Bonn, Germany
23.10.2026 – Krakatoa, Aberdeen, Scotland
24.10.2026 – Hidden, Dundee, Scotland
25.10.2026 – Audio, Glasgow, Scotland
31.10.2026 – Studi Club, Witzenhausen, Germany