Hailing from USA comes the return of Uranium, a one-man nuclear industrial death cult presenting us with their second full length assault Pure Nuclear Death. This is an intense and dense album with many layers and intricate production details that can be hard to miss for those not listening. There’s a lot packed into this 36 minute package that keeps on giving over and over again after the first listen. This is one of the many great releases being brought forth from under the Sentient Ruin banner.
This album starts with a ferocious beating after a short ambient intro, this wall of sound is a mixture of blast beats, heavy guitar riffs, and noisy details that pulsate in and out alongside the deep and harsh vocals that growl out inaudible prayers of death. This release certainly isn’t easy listening, but it’s not just straight harsh noise. With elements of industrial electronics and even some metalcore-esque break downs, there’s no pinpointing exactly the type of sound these guys create. Their unique approach truly sets this heavy hitter aside from the rest and definitely reminds me of the many releases under the Kolkata Inner Order banner (Tetragrammicide, Necrodeity, Kapala, etc.). There are some great use of voice samples here, news reports detailing the events of a nuclear blast, prayers of death, as well as Oppenheimer’s famous ‘destroyer of worlds’ quote.
There’s no letting up with this album. All the way through is a constant blasting barrage. It overwhelms you and wraps you up tight like the residual radiation after a blast, melting your skin off. It’s just so hard to shake off afterwards you want to keep coming back and listening for more. You’d think this suffocating approach to the production would get tiring after a while but, it really doesn’t. There’s a lot of diversity especially towards the end of the album where the wall of noise only lets up a little to create these foreboding passages, especially on the last track Black Knight Satellite. While still holding it’s chaotic and noisy nature, the beat is broken up into these chugging like riffs, even half way through breaking down into something that could resemble a sorta dance beat from some demented club. Either way, Uranium is able to keep and hold your attention and kill your musical pallet with one swift blow. This is a hard recommendation for me and Uranium is gonna be a band that I’ll be keeping a close eye on in the coming future.