There is nothing better than seeing a band from the UK poking its nose up the sweaty bum-crack of the international music scene. Few deserve it more than Wode who have forged a consistent, and viciously pugnacious, path through a couple of extremely decent albums and a bunch of well-attended and thoroughly enjoyable live shows. And now, as 20 Buck Spin pulls down the underpants and uncovers the giant global, musical bottom, it’s time for me to find out exactly what they are inserting.

Wode get badged with the ‘blackened death metal’ moniker quite regularly – and, whilst I guess this is a convenient tag, I do think its a little easy to use when nothing else quite fits. The overriding sensation that I experienced, whilst ‘Burn In Many Mirrors’ erupted through my speakers, was that it kept making me think of Carcass if Carcass played black metal. There is a rough-hewn edge and a distinctly near-grindcore groove undercurrent that embeds itself deep within much of the album. Yet Wode choose to deliver it with a fist-pumping, semi-goth n’roll feel that more-than-faintly echoes bands such as Cloak and Devil Master.

All this is ferociously clever – and becomes more than apparent during the three-part end track entitled ‘Streams of Rapture’ where every strand of what Wode have been, and have become, is woven into a blisteringly heavy quilt and then tossed on top of you. Have that.

There is no doubt that this will do well and, without a doubt, make the owner of the giant musical bottom squeal in surprise and delight. The timing is spot on – as the world hopes to return to some semblance of normality, this is a sublime affair that Wode can take out and use to give everyone a damn good, and much needed, thrashing.

9/10

https://listen.20buckspin.com/album/burn-in-many-mirrors

https://www.facebook.com/Wodecult