Uzziel

For an underground band gifted with the right DIY mindset, knocking out a debut that makes critics speak of witty playfulness and the danger of catching earworms galore, on top of attesting the promising start of shaping a rough diamond, is a bold statement towards the scene in itself. If said band then admits to be seeing their firstling as nothing but early stages of a learning process, the statement is closing in on the whole complex of lovers and haters of their debut altogether, forming the message: Hey, this is mighty far from the end of the line of things to expect from us! It’s exactly that sort of message, which Austrian thrashers UZZIEL are firing at us just now, five years after impressing underground dabsters in the German-speaking world with their last album Torn Apart.

Today, the quartet featuring front man and allround artist Mex Uzziel, who is ruling his band with an iron and steady fist while being responsible for recording and booking as well as for the video and graphic design and, ultimately, for UZZIEL’s lyrics and the slightly black-tinted thrash metal sound, is now raising the ante with a hefty strike on the European stage.

“It’s not only the lyrics we’re using to zap you one with, but the whole thing. We implement the punch in the puss — in the metal world usually achieved by taking guitar riffs and drum beats to the extreme and speeding them up — by willingly breaking the listener’s expectation, e.g. with a jazz intro or something similarly unexpected amidst our songs.”