It's not often we come across female fronted doom metal acts, but that's exactly what you get here with the band called Uzala and their debut self-titled album. Their CD is filled with slow, crushing, sludge ridden death marches, paying homage to the greats like Black Sabbath, Saint Vitus, Pentagram, Cathedral, and Candlemass, with a hint of psychedelia thrown in for good measure. Kinda neat to hear the spooky female voice popping up amidst all the massive melancholia, especially on the funeral doom of "Ice Castle" or the brontosaurus stomp of "The Reaping". The oddball track here is the speedier "Fracture", which features some evil growls that wouldn't sound out of place on a black metal record, and the overall nature of the tune is like some demented hybrid of Celtic Frost, Hellhammer, and Mayhem. "Wardrums" also features ragged vocals, but here the Sabbathian riffs return, and they are quite monstrous and juicy, with nice use of the wah-wah. "Cataract" is a haunting number with ethereal vocals and tons of atmosphere, while "Death Masque" is a slow, heavy instrumental with behemoth guitar and bass riffs. Massively distorted riffs and feedback permeate the ponderous sludge of "Plague", and "Gloomy Sunday" mixes doom with psychedelia for an interesting journey into your worst nightmare.
Uzala proves to be quite an interesting listening experience. I liked the haunting female vocals thrown in with the occasional growls, and the overall heaviness of these songs can't be denied. The production for the most part is pretty awful, but I think that was the intention to get this as raw and dark sounding as possible. If you want to hear some fascinating, underground doom, put this one near the top of the list of new releases to check out.
Track Listing
- Batholith
- The Reaping
- Ice Castle
- Fracture
- Wardrums
- Cataract
- Death Masque
- Plague
- Gloomy Sunday
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