Manchester’s denizens of darkness Wode return with their fourth album, Uncrossing The Keys, encompassing untamed Black Metal, Heavy Metal and more. With every release, they have strived to surpass the predecessor and succeeded. Once again, they push their boundaries and capabilities even further with this latest superb offering. So if you thought they could not match their legendary third offering, Burn In Many Mirrors, you are in for a very pleasant surprise.
Wode – Uncrossing The Keys
Release Date: 3 October 2025
Words: Jools Green
Wode have evolved so much since their straightforward (but still a hugely enjoyable listen) self-titled debut back in 2016, and although there is a wider addition of influences and even melodic elements, it is still a pitch black and often unnervingly sinister offering. This is an aspect that is assured to remain thanks to Michael Czerwoniuk’s superbly dark, raw and expressively protracted vocal delivery.
Uncrossing The Keys opens with Two Crossed Keys, where ominous riffs and drum rhythms open, and almost immediately, the sound is elevated by the melody that courses above. Then those unnervingly engulfing vocals arrive, with the melody developing into something more complex as the vocals become more engulfing. The sheer density of sound at this point is almost overwhelming.
Then it suddenly lifts, leaving just an eerie melody and drum rhythms alongside occasional vocalisations. Gradually rebuilding, it culminates in suitably eerie leadwork as the vocals intensify, before coming to a sudden, dramatic stop. The depth, density and atmosphere of this piece are just superb.
Under Lanternlight delivers even more of those flamboyant Heavy Metal rich melodies, the dark undercurrent and dark raw and cavernous vocals keeping the atmosphere blackened.
Saturn Shadow is a fascinating piece, bringing more new elements into the mix. Opening with an aurally assaulting jagged riffing, on the whole, this piece is a dark, smothering assault on your senses. The riffing levels out to a dark, hypnotic repeat, and the vocals are cavernous and smothering. You also get a subtle goth lean to some of the second-half riffs, building to a frantic, dramatic crescendo of riffing to the close. Again, there is a dramatic and sudden cessation – superb.
The slower-paced haunting opener on the next piece and first single, Transmutation, gradually develops more melody as it progresses, plunging you into a darker atmosphere with the arrival of those superbly cavernous vocals. The seemingly opposite nature of these two elements, melded together with a dark, sombre undercurrent of riffing, makes such an enthralling listen.
Haunting, reflective guitar work opens Prisoner Of The Moon with the pace building suspensefully. The unnervingly cavernous vocals rip through with menace. These elements repeat to build a track full of dark suspense, with the change to a more exotic riff pattern and haunting backing vocal building on the texture further. The riffs take a gothic twist towards the close. A piece that engages and surprises.
I love the opening guitar work on Fiery End. It is part off kilter, part groovy and part dark and sinister, and makes a perfect backdrop for the particularly unnerving, raw and protracted vocal delivery that accompanies it. As the piece progresses, the melodic elements continue to add additional texture that is also part unnerving and part uplifting. The second half’s extended swathe of leadwork elevates the piece further. A superb piece.
The next piece, Lash Of The Tyrant, takes you on a complex and engaging journey. Soundwise, and after an eerie and atmospheric opener, things take a subtly avant-garde/proggy route, with added haunting melody for extra contrast to Michael’s distinctive, impactful vocals. This is a piece that twists and turns throughout with fascinating unpredictability, holding your attention fully.
Penultimate piece is the atmospheric instrumental Phantom, which bathes you in a dreamy trance-like soundscape, followed by the final offering, the eerie to open Dashed On The Rocks. A gradual builder reaching its brutal zenith at the two-minute mark, again, it is engagingly unpredictable in its twists and turns, ebbs and builds. Also with a proggy touch to the construct, the direction shifting is sharp and slick, and the vocals ever menacing.
Uncrossing The Keys, end to end, is a superb album.
The suitably eerie and intriguing artwork for Uncrossing The Keys is by @set33. Released on 3 October 2025 via 20 Buck Spin, it will be available as CD, vinyl, cassette or digital download from 20 Buck Spin and Bandcamp at 20buckspin.com/wode in the United States. For UK and EU pre-orders, visit Dry Cough Records and Grindpromotion Records.
