Published: June 16, 2022

Uvod grabbed me with that cover alone, and true to the label, it is hypnotic enough that I no longer remember how or where I heard about it. I feel like I’ve been inducted into an occult society and need to await further contact. For the record itself, ’tis a syncretic little tablet of morosity, with some goth rock melodrama listing about suspended in the haze of funeral doom hymnal and melodic black metal séance. The twin-toned guitar approach, qua overtly shimmery and airy contra stringent and stern, eschews the drifting dire of Doom 101 and lays its foundation on melodies both pensive and persistent. When the smoke starts to swirl you’ll recognize the silhouetted forms of Ahab and Katatonia swinging the censers, with the tiniest brimstone whiff reminiscent of whichever Batushka you prefer. I am not gifted in the Serbian tongue, but I’m sure the lyrics cribbed from some poet I’ve never heard of are suitably dour to the spirit. From my first glance, I took Uvod to be a particularly esoteric art project, but it’s grown on me very quickly as an enticing emotional doom release, seizing on depth and dimension to be. — A Spooky Mansion