Wode – Burn In Many Mirrors (Review)

After a waiting time of almost four years, the UK black metallers from Wode are back with Burn In Many Mirrors, which is the 3rd long player in the band’s history. With their independent mix of Black and Death Metal, previous releases have already ensured a large fan base around the combo. The current album weaves new influences with old strengths and clearly shows how good Wode have used the interim period to develop musically and individualize their sound. But one thing in advance – the quartet still does not really sound like true British Black Metal, but therefore much more versatile and evil than ever before.

Those who have been following Wode for a long time probably know where the qualities of the British Black Metal band can be found. However, even the most hardened fan was probably not able to expect what was going to come on Burn In Many Mirrors. The record is bursting with musical finesse and delivers not only significantly more influences and instrumental gimmicks than ever before, but scores above all with sophisticated songwriting. In addition to crusty melodic Black/Death beating, Wode worked on a lot of new elements and managed to weave them seamlessly into each other without a trace of sensory overload.

The slightly progressive Black Metal and powerful USBM sound reminiscent of some Dissection worshipping is supplemented with nasty Thrash parts á la early Kreator and in some places also drifts towards a certain Heavy and Speedmetal rail. Above all, the incredibly versatile guitar playing impresses with its various riffings and melodies that quickly get stuck in your ear. From evil sawing over exciting bridges to catchy melodic sounds, everything is present here that makes the heart of every Black Metal fan beat faster. The drumming adapts perfectly and can also convince due to the various tempo changes without losing intensity, in addition to frosty blast beats. Even though the vocals mostly come in the form of deep roars, they are almost consistently easy to understand and thus much more memorable than is the case with many other bands of the genre.

With the last track of the album “Streams Of Rapture I, II, III,” Wode make another detour into the realms of dungeon synths and round off Burn In Many Mirrors so well that this album simply leaves a convincing impression from beginning to end and more or less forces you to play it again. Thanks to the already mentioned strong songwriting you can listen to the longplayer several times without losing interest and again and again you come across passages that haven’t been noticed before and that are captivating, while the more concise parts gain power from passage to passage and get stuck in your memory.

The sound production also leaves nothing to be desired and manages to perfectly capture and reproduce the impact of the respective tracks. In short, Wode have more than surpassed themselves with this album and delivered a record that should probably ignite for many genre fans with Burn In Many Mirrors over a long period of time.

On April 2nd, Burn In Many Mirrors was officially released. For the physical release of the longplayer, it has come to a collaboration with the highly acclaimed American label 20 Buck Spin. Here you can choose between different vinyl versions, which look really great with their wonderfully designed artwork. The fans of Wode who are more interested in a CD or tape edition will also find what they are looking for.

With Burn In Many Mirrors, Wode have definitely released their best and at the same time probably most memorable album so far. The new influences obviously raise the well-known distinctive sound, which you are used to from this band, to a new level. In addition, besides instrumental progression and the aforementioned great songwriting, a really strong production also clearly stands out here. Wode have returned and will bring you an absolute hell ride of a record with their new album!

Favourite Tracks:
“Fire In The Hills”
“Vanish Beneath”

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