ALBUM REVIEW: Crepuscule Natura – Uada
Since their formation back in 2014, Portland’s UADA have gone on to become one of the acts most synonymous with US black metal. Over the course of their first three albums, the band have firmly established their incredibly punchy and melodic sound, one that is far more accessible and grandiose than the majority of acts and has garnered them a worldwide following as each record seems to get even slicker and more polished than the last, cementing the quartet as one of modern black metal’s genuine gateway acts. Their latest, fourth album Crepuscule Natura is another excellent slab of melodic black metal that features some of their very best output to date, lending it the air of a career-defining future classic.
The Abyss Gazing Back starts proceedings in epic fashion, with caustic rhythms and soaring leads creating an ethereal sound with moments of blistering intensity and dense, haunting vocals injecting a harsher undercurrent to the slick riffs and atmospheric heft of the rest of the music, setting a gargantuan and adventurous tone for the rest of the album early on. Crepuscule Natura leans heavily into the band’s more muscular side, with thunderous bass, intricate drums, weighty guitars and arid, ghoulish vocals carving a far more oppressive and murky path musically, with angular melodies serving to add a darker edge to an already fierce slab of black metal. That’s not to say there aren’t some more polished, catchy moments, and even with an aggressive sounding track like this one, the band’s tight and accessible hooks shine through to make for a memorable but incredibly driven offering.
The Dark (Winter) manages to strike an impressive balance between the styles that were prevalent on the two preceding tracks, with majestic, dancing leads counterpointed by frenetic, biting ones, with the sludgy bass and the machine gun precise drums similarly shifting between the lighter and more rabid sections with ease. The vocals, which encompass throaty bellows and acidic snarls, remain consistently visceral, and again draw from a broad range to complement this track’s extremes with brilliant results.
Retraversing The Void initially starts as a minimalist and melodic affair, before launching into the sort of full throttle, atmospheric black metal that the band are known for. Stringent vocals, energetic drums and bombastic ambience all combine to make a grandiose sound that accentuates the band’s softer elements and even borders on spirited post-rock at points, without sacrificing any of the ferocity or imaginative song-writing that has defined this whole album. The dissonant, bellicose moments that creep into the sound in its second half are impressive, and add a jarring edge to an already magnificent piece of music.
The album comes to a close with its fifth and final track, Through The Wax And Through The Wane, a lengthy song that manages manages to fill every moment of it with great hooks. Bursting out of the speakers with a fast and furious pace that rarely lets up, it’s another track that fantastically blends together the awe-inspiring melodicism and rumbling rhythms that make this such a memorable album. The vocals make for a searing inclusion, carving through the mix and adding a sharp, vitriolic edge to what is, for the most part, a sprawling epic with lots of brilliant guitar work and pummelling, percussive drums. The ramping up of the already grandiose guitar sound further adds to this song’s effect, and it’s difficult to find a single flaw with this track which astoundingly brings together both the harsh and punchy sides of the band’s sound in an excellent summation of this record that provides a soaring, climactic exclamation point that brings proceedings to a close perfectly.
Perhaps one of Crepuscule Natura‘s biggest strengths is that, more so than on any of the band’s other albums, the music has managed to strike an excellent balance between the overriding, slick melodicism that characterises their sound and the underlying atmospheric elements that lend a darker edge to each of these five tracks. Although UADA do tend to craft longer tracks, it’s this album where their confidence as songwriters seems to have been honed to easily its tightest and most focused, trimming away what very little fat remained within their sound. This does feel like it’s more than just another great album from a band that has already produced several; this feels like it will go on to be regarded as one of their very best when all is said and done.
Rating: 9/10
Crepuscule Natura is out now via Eisenwald.
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