Irish progressive metal outfit URAGH return this autumn with their most intense and thematically ambitious work to date. Their new EP ‘Stalemate‘ will be released September 25th, 2025 via digital platforms and limited physical editions. The first single, “Crimson Dove” is out now, accompanied by an official music video.
A searing follow-up to last year’s debut full-length Maelstrom, ‘Stalemate’ delivers four interconnected tracks that explore the darker aspects of institutional control and personal deterioration in modern society. Across its concise runtime, the EP traverses themes of mental health breakdown, societal alienation, and the psychological toll of systemic oppression.
The record builds a compelling conceptual arc, beginning with the mechanical warfare of “Perpetual,” progressing through the circling predation of “Crimson Dove,” the personal grief of “Time Heals Nothing” (featuring guest vocals from Foelicitye), and culminating in the stark institutional imagery of the title track, “Stalemate.”
Lyrically and sonically, URAGH craft a narrative that becomes increasingly intimate and disturbing, employing industrial and predatory metaphors—“vultures watching their selected weary victim,” “white apparel,” “barbed wire,”—to deliver a scathing critique of modern power structures.
“Musically, we really wanted to bottle the energy of our live show this time around,” says guitarist Marcelo Varge. “It’s definitely a step up in intensity from Maelstrom, but the process was also more spontaneous. Time Heals Nothing, for example, was basically built from scratch in the studio. We walked in with a few loose riffs and just let the song find its own way.”
“Thematically,” Varge continues, “we didn’t start with a concept, but the idea of being trapped just kept surfacing. Whether it’s the daily grind in Perpetual, or the feeling of having your dreams picked apart in Crimson Dove, it all points back to this paralysis. It’s why Stalemate felt like the only fitting title.”
With a recurring use of powerful metaphors, war machines, hollowed cityscapes, and clinical confinement, the ‘Stalemate‘ EP paints a bleak yet resonant portrait of how human psychology is shaped, worn down, and ultimately contained by the systems that surround it. The industrial imagery and layered motifs of repetition and inevitability make Stalemate a cohesive and harrowing meditation on modern existence.
Recorded at JSR Audio earlier this year, the EP saw producer Josh Sid Robinson step into a central role in shaping the band’s evolving sound. The EP’s arresting artwork was created by Georgian visual artist Alex Malakmadze, whose piece echoes the mechanical and institutional tone of the record.
STALEMATE – TRACKLIST
1 Perpetual
2 Crimson Dove
3 Time Heals Nothing (feat. Foelicitye)
4 Stalemate
LIVE SHOWS – IRELAND & UK TOUR
URAGH will support the release of Stalemate with a string of live shows across Ireland and the UK, bringing their formidable stage presence to the following cities:
Sep 26 – Dublin @ Sin É
Oct 3 – Bristol, UK @ The Gryphon
Oct 4 – London, UK @ The Dev
Oct 10 – Cork @ Fred Zeppelins
Oct 11 – Belfast @ Voodoo Belfast
Oct 26 – Limerick @ TBA
Nov 14 – Edinburgh, UK @ The Banshee Labyrinth
Formed in 2022, URAGH have quickly built a reputation for their immersive sound and cerebral lyrical themes. Their 2024 debut Maelstrom saw them appear at Wacken Open Air and take to the main stage at Ireland’s Siege of Limerick, marking a breakout year for the band. Now with ‘Stalemate‘, they venture deeper into territory that is as thought-provoking as it is sonically devastating.
The ‘Stalemate’ EP crafts a dark narrative across four tracks, moving from the mechanical warfare of Perpetual through the predatory Crimson Dove and personal loss of Time Heals Nothing, to the institutional confinement of the title track. Through industrial imagery and metaphors of decay, the EP presents a haunting commentary on mental health, systemic control, and the cyclical nature of human suffering within modern institutional frameworks.
URAGH are:
Craig Murphy – Vocals Marcelo Varge – Guitar Sebastian Sparr – Bass Jason Hodgkins – Drums
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