"Parked Car, this night sky makes city lights shine like diamonds. Our song plays on the radio. We're living it up make this night ours. We own the world, I wish this lasts forever."

Man! "First of summer" sticks like wet paint! No song knew the operational meaning of abrasive partying and a hell-of-a-shindig moshing than this. Its summery, college-rock weight has added a feat that more likely will impress, than surprise both hardcore and first-time listeners of Cebu-based outfit, URBANDUB. Lalay Lim kicks in a spurt of vocal back up, and Gab Alipe hyped as ever, sings with all glee and energy – it's like a pause, a drowning in the calm sea, where your ears are steadily locked to the melodic genius that was "First of summer."

If this was Udub's attempt to go radio-ready, then they might have found the right timing, the right record and the right direction. The decision to join Bamboo, Hale, Sugarfree, April and Nikki Gil in the roster of EMI "dream team" is no such deal. I happened to play their third record EMBRACE for about two weeks now and I was quite blown away by their new sound that fuses the ethnicky-moderny of their debut BIRTH and the extremely emotional sophomore release, INFLUENCE. With this fusion comes a fierce record of ten brooding tracks and an interlude, inviting growth on the songwriting capabilities of lead lyricist Gab Alipe that matches their new atmospheric hybrid of modern rock, Emo, ART METAL and surprisingly College rock.

The album cover also is a revelation. A cute, innocent-looking five to six-year old girl of Chinese-mestiza descent, standing with pride on a tropical backdrop of thick shrubs and green grasses. It's like the child's ready for the new world outside the forest, ready to face and embrace the adventure of her lifetime. Well, that's me trying to decipher the album art meaning without putting too much thought. Heheh…

Then "An interlude between closeness" entrées, alarming a military configuration to start and attack, opening a warning to the dueling exercise of the overpowering "Alert the armory." Urbandub's trademark of complex textures and shitty drum fills induces another great job again for this song. It's intensity reminds one of an intricate mayhem, where shouting the immortal "mayday, mayday!" is a guaranteed pleasure. The drama behind the war continues as the angry "frailty" and the hypocritical, anti-alcohol, anti-lust, anti-money "When heroes die" provide an exceptional treat of bloody visions and relaxing, sonic palette that shred and kill an ear, in melodic and pleasant terms.

Oftentimes, vocal fillers like "parapapa" are cranked to provide a moving mood that no distinct word could describe.  On "safety in numbers," the filler 'turututututu" is too much of a guilty singy-songy trademark, but what makes this song soaring and better yet moving is the poignant-laden, layered guitar shreds and its shoegazing basslines that steadily brought sentimental response to the exceptional vocal range of Gab Alipe. That also acquiesces with "Endless, a silent whisper," a bitter track that has gotten me an emotional breakdown. "Is this the beginning of our last dance? Once around the floor, can we do it again? I feel the thrill from words we say, I love you.." ='(

The attack of "reveal the remedy" and "the arsonist" is truly a design plan of noise nerds that rely on basic, melodic hardcore dynamics instead of a bitchy, overdriven guitar work trembling hard to please. Same with the jarring but enjoyable "the end of something" which one might trace on the predecessor album, INFLUENCE.

the mogul's take: 10/10