The USA has given the black metal world many a fascinating band over the genre’s lifespan, and it is always fun to come across a band bathed in a good level of mystery which spans from their dark lyrics to their nature of touring and borderline anonymity in their performances.
By that I refer to Uada (Latin for “haunted”) hailing from the city of Portland, Oregon – a city that has given the metal and alternative world many notable musicians in the last decade and whose significance on the USBM map is owed to these four souls of pagan metal mysticism.
When I first discovered Uada almost a decade ago they were unique to my black metal palate due to their combination of melodies, machine-gun blast beats and indecipherable vocals as well as their image consisting of hoods you’d expect to be worn at the gallows. Said hoods appear to have become a trend in the contemporary scene but I would say it was Uada who first used them to add depth to their unusual image.
And now they are back with album number four: “Crepuscule Natura” which contains everything a keen Uada follower would expect. That is a double-edged sword for a music journo to say in all the years of doing this job as it could mean the band have found themselves and done nothing original, but given how they’ve perfected what made them unique in their own right, Uada have taken all that made them a decent band and continued it to maintain their strength and dignity.
Catchiness is one thing I can rely on Uada to deliver and the chords that populate all five tracks are certainly memorable so I can score them well on the progressions and artistic merits that set them up as a decent guitar band alongside their agility in how they make the songs last long at full speed.
So in total, we have a band who found themselves a good time ago and have now perfected the sound and fortitude that put them on the black metal map. Though I personally rate this album higher than 2020’s “Djinn” which I felt was only half way there and now the band have incorporated chord progressions, breaks, tempo changes and melodies that have blended together like a fine whisky that’s been in the barrel for as long as these guys have been on the road.
Another excellent piece of American black metal that has kept Eisenwald at the higher table of metal labels and will be enjoyed by me and many other metalheads for years to come. Uada have yet to disappoint or let the BM world down and I don’t see that on the horizon just yet.
(7.5/10 Demitri Levantis)
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