Review by Wiley on January 22, 2010.

Mid range soaking, stoner appropriate, punked out, noise splattered, southern metal???? Experiments observed by an audience with the attention span of a ten year old, undiagnosed, hyperactive, prepubescent youth bent on a loud anti-conformity outlook. Gollum bring a fresh whiskey soaked sense of groove and noise to a format nearly gone stagnant. So many textures caught within very neccesary time constraints, and done with an absolute sense of newness. Noise addicts will find themselves like kids in a candy store drooling at the window.

The rhythm section here is what glues this whole mass of ideas into a cogent structure. Bridging the seams of the rusty bass heavy structure gleams a mid frequency grind of locusts which the guitarist shellacks the walls of ones' ear. Key noise rises politely and in complementary style all about, never overdone; just the right amount of sap to glaze the architecture and add a brilliant shine. The vocals are bleak and acrid, but not too much of one or the other range. In fact, there is vocally never a dull moment, the vocals themselves never verge on monotonous, running like thick molasses cutting through the mix like acid. There are more decorations to adorn the multiplex, not the least of which would be the female vocals that cleanly rise here and there to a very original (pretty?) grit of sandpaper.

Mastering compliments of Steve Austin (Today Is The Day) makes sure no frequency is lost and the fullness of texture is very apparent. This should tell of the direction, but if confusion sets in - recommended for the more open minded audiences of Weedeater, Wino (you know him), Melvins,(heavier moments of) Faith No More, but with that one could also add Helmet, Corrosion Of Conformity, and Tad(???). Southern Lords more stoned affairs definitely sit well with this recording.

The cover sports some very cartoon-esque visions, exceedingly generic and hardly the sort of vision to prepare the listener for the contents. In fact some of the visual segments lend toward the more basic stoner fare (outlines and borders), but this is hardly reason to avoid just rather an observation so that anyone interested will look beyond said misrepresentation. This hopefully will not be the downfall of this release as there are so many surprises and textures within a context that seems to have so far done itself in with banality.

It is also very appropriate to note that upon completing drum tracks for this release - Hunter Holland passed away. With such an array of hook and groove, Hunter really felt this whole album out and made each song his own. It is truly a sad thing that this Gollum's first album does become his last. "The Core" is truly a testament to his skill and mastery of feel. R.I.P.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 8.5
Atmosphere: 8.5
Production: 8.5
Originality: 8.5
Overall: 8.5

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Review by Raphaël on December 12, 2024.

Uprising is a one-man band helmed by Jan van Berlekom aka Winterherz. When I checked the band's metal-archives page and saw some of the lyrical themes were anti-fascism and Marxism, I was both surprised and excited! In a subgenre plagued with nazis and other like-minded scum of the earth, it's always a welcome sight. Now, you do not get a theoretical, in depth dialectical materialist analysis of class in the capitalist system, that could be jarring for the normal metalhead. Instead, you get well written to the point lyrics with an authentic interpretation of Marxist principles, that anybody can enjoy. For example: "people losing all hope and will, livelihood and existence endangered, by a virus that randomly kills, except those who have plenty, living happily ever after, like the leeches that they are, nourishing on the blood of the many". There, it's a beautifully simple way of saying that the capitalist class is living on the oppression of the working class and that they do not get affected by the problems they usually create, like climate change or the inability of our system to deal with natural disasters, like a virus. He also does a great job of conveying the urgency to act of our times.

And, most important of all, the music accompanying these lyrics is so good, you can enjoy the album even if you don't care about lyrics, because let's be real, all of that theoretical stuff is for nerds, let's get to the metal! I would describe the overall sound as a very melodic and epic but still raw black metal. His vocals in particular, you can just feel the pure rage when he screams like a demon and boy, does he have a lot of rage! Even his clean singing, which he doesn't use that often, feels incredibly epic giving extra weight to his words. Musically, he can obviously go really fast, with plenty of blastbeats and wrist destroying tremolo pickings, but he can also slow down, giving more space for heavy riffs or more melodic and atmospheric passages. These passages show real vulnerability in contrast to the rage that is mainly expressed, making the whole album more dynamic and accentuate the really aggressive moments. W is a technically proficient musician, playing both guitar and bass, although there are no over the top shredding solos, the riffs are always fun and interesting! The bass does not really stand out but that's fairly normal for black metal.

The production is also great, clear enough to hear everything but with a superb rawness that fits the music and themes perfectly. To quote their bandcamp: recorded "In rage and fury wrest from the shadows between the years 2021 – 2023 at Schattenschmiede Studios. The drums sit comfortably in the mix, not overly loud but still having an impact: "Drums painfully dragged into lights by Austin Lunn in the 12th moon of 2023." So, to sum up everything, incredible music and incredible lyrics make for an incredible album. With the perfect run-time of 40 minutes, you will get a lot of replay value.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Review by Raphaël on December 12, 2024.

Uprising is a one-man band helmed by Jan van Berlekom aka Winterherz. When I checked the band's metal-archives page and saw some of the lyrical themes were anti-fascism and Marxism, I was both surprised and excited! In a subgenre plagued with nazis and other like-minded scum of the earth, it's always a welcome sight. Now, you do not get a theoretical, in depth dialectical materialist analysis of class in the capitalist system, that could be jarring for the normal metalhead. Instead, you get well written to the point lyrics with an authentic interpretation of Marxist principles, that anybody can enjoy. For example: "people losing all hope and will, livelihood and existence endangered, by a virus that randomly kills, except those who have plenty, living happily ever after, like the leeches that they are, nourishing on the blood of the many". There, it's a beautifully simple way of saying that the capitalist class is living on the oppression of the working class and that they do not get affected by the problems they usually create, like climate change or the inability of our system to deal with natural disasters, like a virus. He also does a great job of conveying the urgency to act of our times.

And, most important of all, the music accompanying these lyrics is so good, you can enjoy the album even if you don't care about lyrics, because let's be real, all of that theoretical stuff is for nerds, let's get to the metal! I would describe the overall sound as a very melodic and epic but still raw black metal. His vocals in particular, you can just feel the pure rage when he screams like a demon and boy, does he have a lot of rage! Even his clean singing, which he doesn't use that often, feels incredibly epic giving extra weight to his words. Musically, he can obviously go really fast, with plenty of blastbeats and wrist destroying tremolo pickings, but he can also slow down, giving more space for heavy riffs or more melodic and atmospheric passages. These passages show real vulnerability in contrast to the rage that is mainly expressed, making the whole album more dynamic and accentuate the really aggressive moments. W is a technically proficient musician, playing both guitar and bass, although there are no over the top shredding solos, the riffs are always fun and interesting! The bass does not really stand out but that's fairly normal for black metal.

The production is also great, clear enough to hear everything but with a superb rawness that fits the music and themes perfectly. To quote their bandcamp: recorded "In rage and fury wrest from the shadows between the years 2021 – 2023 at Schattenschmiede Studios. The drums sit comfortably in the mix, not overly loud but still having an impact: "Drums painfully dragged into lights by Austin Lunn in the 12th moon of 2023." So, to sum up everything, incredible music and incredible lyrics make for an incredible album. With the perfect run-time of 40 minutes, you will get a lot of replay value.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10