The Urgency – The Urgency – Review

Release Date: April 21st, 2009
Record Label: Mercury Records
Genre: Rock

Chances are that if you were to look at The Urgency‘s new self-titled album’s artwork you might become a bit confused. It has a sword shoved deep into a girl’s mouth, some flowers, wings, and some amorphous goo. Still, the buzz that is coming around for this band is something that must be investigated, even if we never truly understand the CD cover. And even though The Urgency was only formed a little over 3 years ago, its founding members have been hard at work way before that working towards the day they would put this four piece together and release a full-length. Today’s the day, and self-titled is the way.

Opening the record with the most addictive song on the album is a sure way to dull out the rest of the effort, but luckily that doesn’t happen here. Sure “Fingertips” sets the bar high for the rest of “The Urgency,” but the shining elements of the record such as Tyler’s vocals that are filled with flair, the charging drums and bass, and venturous guitars, are spread thoroughly across all of the tracks. I recently compared another bands to Billy Talent, and The Urgency seems to also fall into this category. They feature a more radio friendly demeanor, but the singing style, quirky guitar compositions, and lyrics are all reminiscent of BT’s early work. In fact you could probably sneak one of The Urgency‘s tracks into a Billy Talent mixtape and you could fool an avid fan.

Of course that is just one side of The Urgency‘s complex sound. Tracks like “Memories” and “Lullaby” paint a much more calm and poised picture. The combination of the opposites (an energetic one, and a sleepy one) make for a far more dimensional release then the usual one-sided releases found in the genre. That being said, there might not be enough change from the usual for some people out there, in which case they might call “The Urgency” “a standard rock album with a few ups and more downs,” but to me even the similarities to Billy Talent add to its uniqueness. That type of sound is so bold that many don’t want to even touch it.

That’s why this debut full-length is enjoyable. It has commonalities, as well as differences that make for a smoother record, and to be fair its flair and energy are too loud to not be noticed and held onto. And even if the lead singer isn’t aware he is trying to sound British, The Urgency have still come out with a fine album for this year. ~Staff

Score: 3.5/5

Track Listing:
1. Fingertips
2. Crimes
3. Rooftops
4. Hot Damn!
5. Memories
6. Battlefields
7. Stop!
8. All We Are
9. Move You
10. Revolution
11. Lullaby