Album Review: Uigg – Of Moose and Men

Review by GDK 

First off before I even listened to the album I just had to write this; how awesome and cheesy is this title? Of Moose and Men. As soon as I was going through the Noisography reviews left to be done I saw this and thought “with an album title like this I can’t be disappointed. This has GDK written all over it.”

I’m going to start with the tone on this album. I find the majority of bands go 1 of 2 ways with tone; platinum polished or salt on a burn wound raw. Either can be good depending on the application, I find for the more technical bands like Between the Buried and Me, Protest the Hero, and Meshuggah the polished sound works best because the music needs to be precise and very clean. Whereas bands like Black Flag, Cobra Camaro, and Hind Legs (which I just reviewed) need that raw tone to hammer their sound across the sonic plane. Bands like Uigg fit snugly between these. The tone is not polished nor raw, similar to Lamb of God, Strapping Young Lad, and Emperor.

Composed of vocalist Dani Dowling, guitarist duo Chris “Q” Gaudette and Christ “Douce” Doucette, bassist Ryan “Halestrom” Hale, and beat decimator Derrick Doucette, its clear Uigg came here to hunt… humans.


‘Endless Suffocation’ comes blasting out of my speakers and instantly I think SLAYER! And good Slayer too! The riff is slow and heavy as… well heavy as a moose. What started off as slow and heavy seamlessly transitions into a balls out blast beat filled with rage. Structurally simplistic, yet always building towards the next peak no track on this album disappoints. This album does nothing but make the listener want to hear more. When Nick Tipe was setting up the mics and triggers for the drums it’s very clear that he knew what he was doing, the drum tone on this whole album is golden.

I continue my journey through this blast beat filled sonic slaughterhouse, on my 3rd or 4th listen through I find myself finally able to detach from the actual music and sink my teeth into the lyrics. As lyrics are always open to the interpretation of the listener I’m finding that Uigg’s lyrics take interest in and confront the deepest darkest places in the human psyche; fear ‘It's crawling up inside me/Resting deep in my throat/The urge is always there/I need to breathe’. Man’s obsession with being “superior” ‘His world will end in moments/As it's all in your hands/Feed off the Sickness breeding/Cull him from the herd’. Frustration ‘So weak and your grasping at straws/Your words are no surprise/Tactics are tired and sickening/You've fooled no one but yourself’.

After several times of listening through I can safely say this; Of Moose and Men packs more punch than the Hulk on steroids.

Uigg – Of Moose and Men gets a solid 4.5 strums out of 5!

Comments

Craig St. Jean said…
Important note: The drummer on this album is Derrick Doucette. I am Craig St. Jean, the drummer from Uigg's first album. While I certainly don't mind being credited with the killer drum performance on Of Moose and Men, I think Derrick deserves it more!
GDK said…
Sorry, the info sheet I got said you were the drummer.
-GDK