Manchester’s savage sons WODE have returned with their fourth album, ‘Uncrossing The Keys’, which is out now. The record marks a confident expansion of their already formidable sound, built upon a shadowy foundation of feral black metal and ironclad heavy metal heft. Having evolved from the more straightforward methodology of their debut, WODE has continuously embraced a wider spectrum of moods, painting with blacker, richer hues across this newest work. Their sound remains steeped in flame and fury, but the songwriting has grown leaner yet more intricate, focused, and melodic than ever before.
The nine track opus masterfully blends genres, allowing jagged post punk and goth leanings to bleakly shine on tracks like “Saturn Shadow” and the atmospheric instrumental “Phantom.” The doomier pace and majestically pensive mood of the single “Transmutation” recalls both Paradise Lost and Amorphis with its sombre undercurrent, while the morosely anthemic “Under Lanternlight” is suffused with dynamic melodies. The guitars carry a mournful shimmer at times, their hooks laced with both melancholy and menace, drifting above the carnage with moments of elegiac beauty and dark lamentation. ‘Uncrossing The Keys’ was expertly recorded and mixed by James Atkinson at The Stationhouse and mastered by Magnus Lindberg, resulting in a truly haunted and commanding blackened heavy metal album.
‘Uncrossing The Keys’ Track Listing
- Two Crossed Keys
- Under Lanternlight
- Saturn Shadow
- Transmutation
- Prisoner of the Moon
- Fiery End
- Lash of the Tyrant
- Phantom
- Dashed on the Rocks