Review: Uigg – To Punish And Enslave (2008)
Holy Christ on a cracker! A metal band from PEI! For those who don’t know, PEI is the acronym for Canada’s own Prince Edward Island. Being a dude from Maine, those from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and PEI are kind of our brethren in Canada, in which we share many family ties as evidenced by the many French surnames on the Coast of Maine. Whatever though, most reading this probably could give two shits about having a geography lesson, they want to know about the metal! Well, lucky for everyone, this metal band from PEI called Uigg isn’t just an average band from some random Canadian island that most Americans haven’t heard of, nay dear friends, Uigg is a better than average band from some random Canadian island that most Americans haven’t heard of!
When I first hit play on my To Punish And Enslave CD, I sighed, because the intitial song “One Shall Stand, One Shall Fall” wasn’t what I’d hoped it would be. It was under-produced, and the band could not get in sync with the drummer, especially the vocalist! I thought to myself that this was going to be a chore getting through this album, and once the band got wind of the bad review, they would cross the border and come hunt me down PEI style. Luckily, when the second song “Failure” kicked in, I became really glad I decided to keep listening. What remains after the first track is a complete album of catchy, death/black metal that is much more traditional than the deathcore mess of today. Plus one for Uigg!
Interestingly enough, Uigg reminds me a bit of another underground act I recently reviewed Cyaegha, in that they are both modern death metal bands that don’t necessarily fall into the pit of mainstream death metal. I was happy to make this comparison, because it shows a pleasant trend I foresee hitting death metal. To Punish and Enslave represents hope on the horizon for me, because it is indeed a straight up, good death metal record with black metal influences. Each song is brutal and doesn’t need to rely on a groove or a breakdown to make the aggression happen. The emotion and feel is in Uigg’s music, which is represented quite well in the guitar solos that are strewn throughout this record, as well as the vocals of Daniel Dowling who could easily take over for Chris Barnes in Six Feet Under if he went on an ounce a day pot smoking regimen.
Despite the qualities To Punish and Enslave possesses, it is still hindered at times by laggy drum and rhythm guitar work that always seems to keep the band from punching forward into the next song. I won’t harp on the production values, because for a small indie death metal band, this shit isn’t half bad. If this record turns a few heads in the future, I expect Uigg’s next album to contain tighter instrumentation and better production values. Uigg has made a good record in To Punish and Enslave, and because of that, I as a newfound fan expect bigger and better things in the future.
GOOD
Top Tracks: Failure, Catharsis, Slamhog
Similar Artists: Cyaegha, Aborted, Napalm Death, Morbid Angel
1. Extinction Strategy
2. One Shall Stand, One Shall Fall
3. Failure
4. Sadistic Reprisal
5. Final Hour
6. Catharsis
7. Slamhog
8. We Can’t All Be Saints
9. To Punish And Enslave
10. The Harbinger
Daniel Dowling – Vocals/Programming
Chris Gaudette – Guitar
Christ Daucette – Guitar
Ryan Hale – Bass
Craig St Jean – Drums
Review by CODY
LOL… I live on the “border” of Uigg in PEI. Uigg is the most unlikely place you could think to name a metal band after. Unfortunately for me the only music I don’t like is death metal.
I think there’s like 68 people that live in Uigg, there’s an old abandoned Church, a B&B/motel, and that’s about it really. It’s basically the convergence of two roads. I expect they chose that name because Uigg, PEI is the only Uigg in the world. There is a place in Scotland called Uig though. That’s the namesake of this community. i hope this band knows how to pronounce it. YOO-IKH, not WIG or OOIGG. This is sort of surreal, finding out the place I lived my whole life is now somewhat “known” in the world. BTW, I love Maine, and New England. It’s so pretty in the fall. Though, you have weird accents. You probably say the same things about us. I will definitely listen to this album,though. Just to say I’ve listened to the music of my community LOL.