New Zealand Heavy Metal Forum & Discussion

[Phlegm]

A band with an unpronounceable name is typically going to have things working against them. UIGG's logo looks a little like the symbol PRINCE used during his "nameless" years; a symmetrical logo can be copied, but it's hard to imagine kids drawing their ugly logo on their schoolbooks and bags. Additionally, UIGG have put their extended artwork and album lyrics on a blog instead of the CD sleeve. Their reasoning was they had "too many ideas" to fit on paper. Frankly, this reeks of laziness. The band is shitting on the people who actually prefer to buy CDs instead of spending endless hours on the internet (Yes, these people do exist, even though they likely won't read this review). The sleeve is devoted to thank lists, in which the band vigorously thanks each other and their cat. It would have made more sense to put the thank list where it can be edited as more names come to mind and have the lyrics in a portable format.

On their Myspace site, UIGG put themselves in the death, black and thrash metal genre, so let's get into it. The second song "One Shall Stand, One Shall Fall" finds the drummer winning the race to end of the song; The vocalist and guitarists struggle to catch up, and the song suffers as a result. Throughout the album the vocals resemble a battery acid-gargling Danii Filth (mostly without the little girl shrieks) or take the Scooby Doo route, which actually works when the band slows down and plays to their strengths. "Sadistic Reprisal" demonstrates this bands potential when they work within limits of their respective capabilities, combining traditional, death and black metal together (although there is one annoying moment where the "blastbeat button" sounds accidentally pressed). "Catharsis" and "Slamhog" take the death metal tardis back to 80's thrash, but again the needlessly busy drumming pours rotten milk onto the songs. The band too often act on their urge to forcibly convince listeners they are capable of playing more than one type of metal, and the songs suffer as a result. Overall, UIGG sound like newcomers unsure of their identity rather than a band capable of transcending several genres at once.


2/5

[Obzen]

Again, awesome review man. Have you done journalism before?

[Phlegm]

I actually applied for Journalism courses a few years back but didn't get in. I've contributed a little to a couple of music mags over the years.