Uzeda : Surrounded

Uzeda is a heavy proggish rock band, along the lines of Helmet, Dazzling Killmen or Jesus Lizard.  Some call it 'math rock' which is probably appropriate, as it's concerned with rhythms, particularly non-standard ones.  Some call it 'post rock' which totally doesn't make sense, because that implies that they aren't rock, which implies that they don't rock, which makes no sense at all, because they totally fucking rock.  So, yeah, that's stupid.

Formed in 1987, Uzeda hails from Sicily (yes, in Italy).  The band is fronted by a nondescript Italian woman, Giovanna Cacciola, who screams the lyrics in slightly broken English.  Their music is loud, coarse, angular, with a great sense of dynamics and a mastery of tension and release.  It's nearly atonal, but it still completely rocks.

They released a Steve Albini-produced EP in 1995 on the excellent Touch & Go label that is four songs and ten short minutes of awesome.  I almost chose a song called "Sleep Deeper", mostly because with Giovanna's accent, it sounds like she's shouting about a "Sleepy Bird", but I went instead with the lead song, "Surrounded".  The song starts with a stutter, introducing its circular riff interlaced with open vocals.  Then the band goes at it in earnest, hammering away on the riff until it can barely take the weight anymore.  Listen for the break where they drop to a completely different, far thinner guitar sound for a few measures of respite, before launching back into the full-fledge frontal assault.  It's a vicious pounding of a song. Play it loud.

"Surrounded" comes from Uzeda's 1995 EP, 4.  I also have Stella, their most recent release (2006) after
a lengthy hiatus, but it's not nearly as good.  There are a couple of good songs, but they tend to drag on (none of the songs on 4 are over three minutes), and they lose their impetus and forget to rock.  I haven't heard any of their other stuff.

[You can listen to Uzeda's "Surrounded" by navigating to the post "Song065" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

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