Review by Felix on September 11, 2024.

Vom Schwarzen Schmied, the predecessor of Uranium, was a massive statement with excessive melody lines, a lot of drama, and dynamics. Uranium points into the same direction. It’s a logical successor. Dauƥuz still wallows in the fascinating mining scenarios of total darkness, fear, superhuman efforts, and exploitation of natural resources. As a guy from West Germany, I admit that for years I only thought of the “Ruhrpott” in Northrhine-Westphalia in terms of mining. Therefore I enjoy that Dauƥuz add the East German perspective, spanning a line from the year 1666 to the second half of the twentieth century. Especially their lyrics about the murderous and inhumane Russian regime after World War II are very interesting, even though they lack the occult charm of the opener’s lyrics which deal with alchemy and the birth of the name-giving element of the actinide group (isn’t it exciting that there is seemingly nothing that the world wide web doesn’t know, haha?).

Uranium, upgraded by its atmospheric, ominous, and stylish artwork, cannot completely achieve the class of Vom Schwarzen Schmied. It does not suffer from a lot of weak details, but in my humble opinion, tracks like 'Radonquell 1666' (almost nine minutes) and 'Ein Werkzeug Des Todes' (ten minutes) are a bit too long and not totally immune against a few rather vapid sections. The drama of the lyrical content thus loses density, in no moment to a great extent, but nevertheless noticeably. In addition, the melody lines are maybe five or ten percent less expressive than those of the predecessor. This means that most of them are still very good, but the final iota of excellence is missing from time to time.

But let's stop lamenting, after all, only luxury problems are being complained about here. Uranium is another intelligently designed work, meticulously thought out and very competently executed. The single parts of the songs create an organic flow and the single songs almost coalesce with each other, giving the album the feeling of just one track, divided in six chapters. The vocals offer a broad portfolio from grim nagging to heroic singing and the band still does not care about commercial aspects. No doubt, the approach of the duo reflects a lot of the artists’ individuality and despite the lengths of the songs and their different sections, they are more or less easily accessible. Speaking of individuality, the only obvious reference to another band is the bone-chilling guitar line in the opener and the closer which reminds me of the riff in "Daudafærd", the masterpiece of Sweden’s Pest. Apart from this detail, I am sure that every fan of pretty melodic yet always desperate black metal will enjoy the album.

By the way, I am speaking of a very well produced work. Uranium is not based on a furious wall of sound, but it scores due to its masterly balanced and transparent appearance. Each and every single component has found its place. This and the strength of the song material makes the album to a very enjoyable listening experience. The many facets of the songs guarantee that convinced black metal fans will find something good in each and every one of them. Those who think they should skip a song make a mistake, because one can feel the passion and dedication of the two artists in almost every moment. With that said Uranium is no gigantic milestone and very picky maniacs will moan about too many theatrical moments. I also cannot completely rule out that the album loses a bit of its fascination outside of Germany, due to the lyrics in my mother language and the very German lyrical topic. Either way, from my Teutonic perspective, I can recommend Uranium with a clear conscience.

Rating: 8.1 out of 10