Metal Underground.com

This is my first album review of 2020; horrible, I know. Let’s be real, this year has absolutely sucked for many reasons, but mostly it’s sucked because it’s stifled many things when it comes to music. No concerts, no festivals, and when it comes to new releases, the hype around them has been minimal at best. However, when I saw the chance to review Uada’s third full-length album, “Djinn,” I jumped all over it like it was an oversized present sitting under a Christmas tree. This band is worth getting excited over a million times over.

Uada’s previous release, “Cult of a Dying Sun,” took them from a band that had a cult following in the Pacific Northwest, to reaping in fans by the thousands and landing them on large festival stages all over the world. That’s a lot of hype to follow up with and the expectations are just as so. Since “Djinn” is being released in the pandemic world, I’ll say that the hype has unfortunately been minimal at best, but that’s not the band’s fault. What I can say without hesitation that “Djinn” is Uada’s most complete release to date. It will satisfy their diehard black metal fans and for those that don’t care for the black metal label, the compositions on “Djinn” are so varied, it'll appeal to all metalheads.

This album has a lot for everyone to enjoy. There are guitar lines that definitely have an Iron Maiden feel to them. The title track (I’ll probably be crucified for writing this) has an unescapable upbeat feel to it. I can’t write it any other way so they don’t lose their black metal street cred among you cvlt types. But don’t fret! The track “Forestless” is more than enough to satisfy the black metal enthusiasts and then some with a little Immortal flavor mixed with traditional metal transitions. My favorite track on “Djinn” without a doubt is “No Place Here” with its pounding verses and melancholy guitar choruses. Oh, and the Vincent Price sample was fitting, dare I say, like a glove?

I recently noticed that Uada already landed on a festival date for next year. This is great, but hopefully the world will open up again for business and we’ll get to see them on a tour package that lasts forever. Uada deserves so much more than this shit show reality that we’re all going through right now.