Band's List Thrash Black Uigg Of Moose and Men

What the hell does the name Uigg mean? It's not listed in the dictionary. Uigg is actually the name of a remote settlement on Prince Edward Island. Their debut album was released by Diminished Fifth Records, who specialize in highlighting the Metal music of Canada's East coast. The quality of the recording of To Punish and Enslave, sounded a bit underproduced and slightly low fi. I thought that this approach worked out very well for that album. It seemed to enhance the cartoonish crudeness of the vocals and the rawness of the instrumentation. The grim vocals clashed with the music, like 2 guys fist fighting over the right to walk on the left side of the sidewalk. The music contained some decent Thrash rhythms like Skeletonwitch, mixed with some geeky interludes comparable to Polterchrist. To Punish and Enslave still managed to be a pretty good Thrash outing for the young band. Their sophomore album, Of Moose and Men, was self released about 3 years later. So did Uigg improve their guitar shredding by hitting the higher notes more methodically?

Vocalist Danny Turbulence doesn't display any of the grim growling vocals that personified the character of his performance on their debut album. An angry man hollering, he yells out his lines with much of the same style and rhythmical flow that Phil Anselmo is known for. He projects an extremely threatening persona coupled with very violent lyrics about fighting, killing, and personal survival. The lyrics of Thrown to Wolves involve shooting and slitting the throat of someone who attempted a revenge poisoning. The song Loose Ends is about whacking a potential witness, who was at the wrong place at the wrong time. The heavy bass lines coalesce with the vocals to impart a sentiment of danger, as if someone was doomed to bodily harm. Ryan Halestrom leads most of the music with his deep and rich bass chugging. Sycophant is heavy as fuck with bass rhythms that change speeds, to contribute a warped and twisted quality. The textures sound sort of sludgy like Joseph Fontenot from Acid Bath. Yet they are played a bit faster like Nefarious of Macabre. Sometimes it's very dark and emphatic. His contributions are prominent and dominant in most of the music.

Two designated guitarists are featured. Who mainly manifest themselves with downtuned guitar thrashing, which is used to accentuate the stronger bass driving. Master hunter thrashes out pretty heavily, with the downtuned guitars riff shifting swiftly. That track brings Nailbomb to mind, in comparison. The song called Sinking goes at a medium tempo, then switches over to some retro styled psychedelic guitar picking towards the end. This approach is similar to what Blood Cult has done with their music. The drums rattle along with the stringed instruments. Offering little in the way of intricate beat patterns, or in the department of explosive drum diversions. It does keep up with the pace of the faster songs. The drummer does display some range from lower to higher beat tones, to accommodate the nuances of the songs. Within the song Onslaught there are some occasional outbursts of melodic pounding. Then he rattles the cymbals so fast, that it sounds like a tambourine. These highlights aren't constant, as the music changes tempo and mood a lot. Then there is a last minute hidden track, when the band performs a vocal air guitar melody. I'd rate the percussionist as average at best. He sounds more like a Black Metal drummer than he does a Thrash drummer. His particular style reminds me of Necro from Pest.

Like I said, Of Moose and Men, was self released instead of going through Diminished Fifth Records. The sound quality has improved a little bit and it sounds slightly higher fi. But this album is a different animal than their debut release, so it doesn't matter too much. The vocals don't sound as grim as something out of a cartoon character, but it's still wild and crazy. The lyrics run something like a mafia movie of street survival and are bringing out the wildlife in mankind with murderous stories. Usually we'd expect to hear a lot of badass fuckin' shredding from a Thrash band that featured 2 guitarists. It's hard to distinguish that 2 guitarists are present, because they take a back seat to the driving bass. A lot of bands have done more with less. I'd like to hear some shredding that melodically hits the higher notes and also with plenty of catchy guitar solos. The bass music plays a principal role and it really stands out. So I'm speculating that this band might be evolving into some mean sludge metal, like Superjoint Ritual.