UMUR Behind the Blackest Tears is the 2nd full-length studio album by US metal act Kingdom of Sorrow. The album was released in June 2010 by Relapse Records. Kingdom of Sorrow is a project spearheaded by vocalist Jamey Jasta ( Hatebreed) and Kirk Windstein ( Crowbar, Down...etc.). They are helped out on this release by Charlie Bellmore on guitars and bass and Nick Bellmore on drums.

The music on the album is metal with elements from both groove metal, sludge and hardcore. Kirk Windstein as always delivers heavy groovy riffs and some really convincing raw vocals while Jamey Jasta more or less sounds like his ususal angry self ( which isn´t a bad thing to my ears). This is not exactly Crowbar meets Hatebreed but there are nods towards both acts in the music. The hardcore influence is mostly heard in the up-tempo tracks Sleeping Beast and Salvation Denied which both appear near the end of the album but of course also in the vocal delivery by Jamey Jasta. Songs like God's Law in the Devil's Land and the power ballad From Heroes to Dust are some of the highlights here for me. The latter show the band stepping a bit out of their comfort zone and it actually suits them well. I wish they would have done more of that.

The album is pretty consistent in quality but the songs seldom reach the excellent mark. There´s nothing wrong with the excellent musicianship, the professional production or the consistency and quality of the material, but a few more "experiments" or unforgetable songs would have made me more interested in giving the album more spins in the future. A 3 star rating is warranted. It´s no revelation but a pretty good album.