Coming from the notoriously subversive musical womb that is Seattle is Uglyhead, a fascinating heavy industrial act that goes more for atmosphere and experimentation. The album on the plate today is Time & Time Again. It is a live album featuring performances in Oakland, California as well as Everett and Seattle, Washington. Since I have not had the pleasure of being aware of Uglyhead prior to this review, I had a few key decisions I had to make. I had to decide if I was going to listen to their other work to get a taste of what they're like in a more traditional recording process or laser focus on the album at hand. For this review I made the decision to to stick exclusively with what I was given to review, so let's get into Time & Time Again.
Uglyhead follows a very dark and brooding beaten path that many industrial bands before it have gone down. You get a cool, slow building intro that assembles a cold and unforgiving mood with the first track. Then come some vocals which mirror the distant aesthetic. These vocals are paired with lyrics that are very hard to make out, however that's nothing out of the norm, especially for this genre. So as an industrial enthusiast I felt very much at home. I think what made me feel like a fish out of water for this one is the live element. Recording live performances is no easy task and unfortunately I felt like this album showcases some of the common shortcomings with attempting to do so. It was just very tough to get invested when the lyrics are almost irrelevant because they're just not being heard. I felt like I was missing the immersive element this music has the potential to achieve. There's also the applause at the end which sort of takes me out of the atmosphere they built and then I have to start from scratch on the next song, but again that is the nature of live albums. One of the tracks to translate well was "Glass Man" and as the name suggests there is a more translucent and interesting element to that song. I really appreciated the experimentation and breaking of the mold that was done with this track. When they go fast, they almost have an added bonus of jungle mixed into their music and I really enjoyed it. Their slower, atmospheric tracks had great structure, but I think required a more diverse set of samples. Again there are things I could have missed due to the live element, but I really believe with a few more tools in the box, they could've built an even more impressive fortress. I think Uglyhead has the right idea with their music and where they want to take it. When it comes to industrial live performances, recording them is a massive challenge and I respect Uglyhead for doing it, even if I don't think it did their work justice. Despite some issues I had with a live album, I will be taking time to listen to their other work, because I am genuinely intrigued.
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