As a guy who really loves bands who blend metal and post-punk, I’ll admit that I’ve felt a little bit spoiled across 2025. Maybe not in quantity of albums that fit that bill, but definitely in quality. Earlier this year, Messa won my heart quickly with their expert mix of doom metal and gloomy retro-goth elements on The Spin. A couple months after, Floating rocked my world with Hesitating Lights, which deftly combined post-punk with jagged, knotty death metal. But things come in threes, right? Enter Wode, who have seen fit to give me a third dose of that combination I love so much on Uncrossing the Keys.
England’s Wode is a band that’s long been on my radar, but I never really took the time to try them out in earnest before this album. And from first impression, I have definitely been missing out. Throughout Uncrossing the Keys, Wode’s modus operandi is a gripping and catchy blend of blackened heavy metal with an abundance of post-punk and goth rock influence. Galloping riffs and melodic harmonies share space with harrowing harsh vocals, dissonant chords, gloomy arpeggios, and the odd bit of spooky synth, wrapped in a production that feels (delightfully) retro in its gritty clarity. It’s a grim sound, sure, but man is it ever catchy.
From the opening sample of “Two Crossed Keys” (I always love albums starting with some sort of gate or doorway sound), Wode kicks right into gear in equal parts punk and Tribulation. The guitars dance nimbly in an eerie melody over a pounding rhythm section and harsh growls, practically demanding the listener bang their head in approval. It’s a confident start to Uncrossing the Keys, and as the album progresses, Wode proves to have a great sense of variety to keep things fresh but consistent.
“Under Lanternlight” was an excellent choice of a single, balancing some more classic heavy metal harmonies with a pulsing riff, while deeper in “Transmutation” feels like a perfect midpoint of Tales from the Thousand Lakes-era Amorphis and early Paradise Lost (it gave me a laugh coming to this conclusion before reading the press release and seeing the band felt exactly that way too). Meanwhile, “Saturn Shadow” features a more uncomfortably dissonant intro and spooky ascending riffs, while still making time for some more emotive breaks, a balance that is inversed in a cool way on the doomier “Prisoner of the Moon” later on.
Towards the back half of Uncrossing the Keys, Wode breaks out a couple tricks that landed especially well for me. With its grand intro riff and keyboarding underpinning, “Lash of the Tyrant” gave me flashbacks to Enslaved’s Frost for a moment before taking on a far more languid, dreamy pace, speeding up briefly towards the midpoint. “Phantom”, surprisingly, was a huge favorite for me despite being a simple instrumental interlude just because it’s absolutely beautiful, and could easily serve as great walk-off music for live sets, a la Emperor’s “The Wanderer”. Closer “Dashed on the Rocks” is just sublime in its back and forth of moving melodicism and the most aggressive, purely black metal riffing across the Uncrossing the Keys.
Great guitars, present and purposeful bass, excellent drumming, and powerful vocals; Uncrossing the Keys really just has it all for anyone looking for great heavy metal with a serious blackened edge. But Wode’s heavy use of post-punk and goth elements is what really elevates the album for me, making it an album that’s been a sheer delight to revisit in preparation for this review. Ever since I stumbled upon In Solitude’s Sister, this kind of metal and post-punk blend has been catnip for me, and Wode delivers that vibe in spades. Uncrossing the Keys is gloomy, spooky, brimming with riffs bound to get stuck in your head, and all just in time for the Halloween! But don’t let that come across as a gimmick: great metal like this is for all seasons.
