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