{"id":109018,"date":"2025-10-08T15:00:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T15:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/109018\/"},"modified":"2025-10-08T15:00:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T15:00:09","slug":"wode-uncrossing-the-keys-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/109018\/","title":{"rendered":"Wode – Uncrossing the Keys Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"In neither of his two prior Wode<\/strong> reviews did El Cuervo<\/strong> pose the question, what is a wode, outside of being fodder for bad puns? A trip to Wiktionary<\/a> tells me that it is a term related to rage, insanity, rabidness, and the like. Listening to Wode<\/strong>\u2019s now four full-length albums, that definition feels right; their music does sometimes take on characteristics of frantic madness. Wode<\/strong> took the underground metal world by storm when they released their eponymous debut in 2016 and they have only grown their fan base since then. Though El Cuervo<\/strong> began to sour on them with Burn in Many Mirrors<\/a>, it was a top seller for 20 Buck Spin in 2021. Four years later Wode<\/strong> now release the successor, Uncrossing the Keys, to anxiously excited fans. The question I pose is this: wode you like to find out if it was worth the wait?<\/p>\n

The way it starts off, Uncrossing the Keys promises to be a rollicking good time. Following the sounds of keys unlocking an obnoxiously loud door, \u201cTwo Crossed Keys\u201d gets things going with one hell of a catchy melodic lead. Coupled with up-tempo blast beats and great riffs, this opener is just plain fun. Follow-up \u201cUnder Lanternlight\u201d continues the hot streak with a similarly catchy, but distinctive, melodic riff and tons of energy. This song shows off Wode<\/strong>\u2019s dynamism with a more winding structure, but they make sure to return to their hooks before it\u2019s over. One of El Cuervo<\/strong>\u2019s main critiques of the preceding album was a lack of strong hooks, and right off the bat, Wode<\/strong> seek to remedy that. If only they had kept going this route, we\u2019d be talking about a great album. As it stands, they move away from the melodic route and take off-ramps to many other styles. This other stuff isn\u2019t bad, but it doesn\u2019t reach the heights of the first two songs.<\/p>\n

Wode<\/strong> sounds more complex than they seem on the surface. It\u2019s not all aggressive black in the vein of Sarastus<\/strong><\/a>. They also play a fair amount of post-metal with dreamy passages, as well as some doom. The doom works pretty well, evoking Paradise Lost<\/strong> without reaching the quality of their most recent output<\/a> (\u201cTransmutation,\u201d \u201cPrisoner of the Moon\u201d). These tracks convey a mournful melodicism but don\u2019t stray far from Wode<\/strong>\u2019s characteristic sound. On the less melodic side lies the more dynamic post-metal material. These tracks, which tend to be on the longer side, take twists and turns using tempo shifts and elaborate dual guitar riffs (\u201cSaturn Shadow,\u201d \u201cLash of the Tyrant\u201d). Even though these songs lack the hooks of the early tracks, the reverb on the guitar and the singer\u2019s unique vocal style provide ample atmosphere. Depending on what it is you like from your black metal, Uncrossing the Keys has a mix that\u2019s sure to either delight or frustrate.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For my tastes, I found this a frustrating listen. Wode<\/strong> made a poor decision in following up their two catchiest tunes with perhaps the most meandering, least hook-y number, \u201cSaturn Shadow,\u201d killing the momentum. At 42 minutes, Uncrossing the Keys is not much longer than its predecessor, but it still feels too long. It doesn\u2019t help that the longest tracks are also the least grounded, and their instrumental wandering makes it easy to feel lost. Add in some pointless musical passages, like the instrumental \u201cPhantom,\u201d and poorly done song intros that take too long to get to the goods (\u201cDashed on the Rocks\u201d), and Uncrossing the Keys often feels like instrumentation in search of a song. Even when Wode<\/strong> does find killer hooks, they sometimes abandon them early on (\u201cDashed on the Rocks,\u201d \u201cFiery End\u201d). It\u2019s as though this black\/traditional band has an aversion towards traditional song structures.<\/p>\n

I say all of this out of love because I really enjoy a lot of what Wode<\/strong> does here. \u201cTwo Crossed Keys\u201d and \u201cUnder Lanternlight\u201d are some of my favorite songs of the year. As a whole, Uncrossing the Keys fails to hold up on close listens, and even when listening to it in the background, you get the sense of a discernible drop in the second half. I suspect that if you admired Burn in Many Mirrors, you\u2019ll also enjoy this. At its best, this one outshines its predecessor, but it also struggles with Wode<\/strong>\u2019s inability to lock in their hooks. It\u2019s a shame\u2014these guys are great riffsmiths when they put their minds to it. More focused songwriting could push them to the next level.<\/p>\n

\ufeff<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: 2.5\/5.0
DR<\/strong>: 6 | Format Reviewed<\/strong>: 320 kbps mp3
Label<\/strong>: 20 Buck Spin<\/a>
Websites<\/strong>: Bandcamp<\/a> | Facebook<\/a>
Releases Worldwide<\/strong>: October 3rd, 2025<\/p>\n

\n\tGive in to Your Anger:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In neither of his two prior Wode reviews did El Cuervo pose the question, what is a wode,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109019,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[264],"tags":[7738,42789,1135,7740,41734,18,68013,117,19,17,337,60526,68014,1142,1143,68015,68016,68017],"class_list":{"0":"post-109018","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-2-5","9":"tag-20-buck-spin","10":"tag-1135","11":"tag-black-metal","12":"tag-doom-metal","13":"tag-eire","14":"tag-english-metal","15":"tag-entertainment","16":"tag-ie","17":"tag-ireland","18":"tag-music","19":"tag-oct25","20":"tag-paradise-lost","21":"tag-review","22":"tag-reviews","23":"tag-sarastus","24":"tag-uncrossing-the-keys","25":"tag-wode"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109018"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109018\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}