UMUR Thirteen Urban Ways 4 Groovy Bohemian Days is the 2nd full-length studio album by Swiss black metal act Blutmond. The album was released in September 2010 by Code666.

Whenever Code666 releases something you know you´re in for something a bit out of the ordinary and that´s certainly the case with Thirteen Urban Ways 4 Groovy Bohemian Days too. The title of the album should also give you an indication that this is no regular sounding black metal album. I haven´t heard the debut album by the band yet, but as far as I´ve been able to gather info about it, the music style on that album is more regular raw black metal. The music on Thirteen Urban Ways 4 Groovy Bohemian Days can be labelled avant garde/ progressive black metal and reference points could be acts like Code, Dødheimsgard and even Ulver at times. The occassional use of flugelhorn ( it might be a saxophone, I´m not an expert) creates a desolate urban feel I associate with some of Ulver´s work. The music is hard to describe acurately, but experimental black metal with both raspy, aggressive and clean vocals is a shot at it. The band are very well playing and it´s obvious from listening to the music that they are full of innovative and adventurous ideas too. Sometimes the experimentation works and sometimes it doesn´t. The fact that the album is 63:54 minutes long might influence my opinion too. It´s simply too long and I´m sure a 40 minute album packed with all those great ideas would have worked a lot better. The hour long album unfortunately loses my attention along the way.

So at the end of the day I´m left partially impressed and partially disappointed. I think the album promises a lot and only partially delivers what it promises. I´ve been giving it some thought, and I think what is lacking to make this a truly great album are some memorable riffs. I´ve come to the conclusion that it´s the basic riffs that aren´t powerful or distinct enough to really make an impression. The experimental ideas are for the most part successful enough and are a contributing factor to the generally effectful dark/ weird atmosphere on the album. So more of those odd ideas please!!! The weird titles of the songs like, You vs. The Modern Lifestyle Obsession, Working Poor, Yuppie Yeah (A/A 3000) and Martini Midnight Madness are also contributing factors to the atmosphere IMO. It´s hard to know who I should recommend the album to, as it is sure to be an aquired taste, but the open minded extreme metal fan are sure to find something of interest here. If you´re able to find enjoyment in the more basic metal elements on the album too and have no problem with the hour long playing time, this album might be worth the investment for you. A 3 to a 3.5 star rating is warranted.