Enlightening the World

Ah yes, so this is the band that provided those badass riff to that badass video-game. I don't think I'm alone in saying, that I first heard of Undercode during an epic battle against hordes of alien monsters. But I'm not here to gush about the Serious Sam series.

Stylistically, this album represents an era of heavy metal, where catchy riffs and soaring guitars ruled, alongside singers with powerful voices. This was way before downtuned chug-fests and before any signs of djent. Undercode follows the Iron Maiden and W.A.S.P. line of metal and manages to create an identity that is separate from both of those. They are heavy, but also melodic and easy to stomach. They even include some tasteful slow passages and ballads that don't drool too hard. And of course, the excellent riff-work.

But at the same time, I'm hesitant to say that they stand their ground against the beasts mentioned above. Yes, this is an incredibly solid release, but after the album finished I was left wanting a bit more. One would expect such a band to keep releasing solid release after another, with Enlightening the World being a fond memory for many. But by itself it's a bit scant.

Listening it in one go can be a little boring, despite the awesome riffs. Stylistically, there's not much variety, the slow parts are next to identical to each-other and it almost seems like certain songs had more attention paid to them than others. The title track and Freedom are basically the highlights of the album, even if you don't recognize them from the Serious Sam soundtrack. New Jerusalem is another worthy mention, if not for that organ and choir; It really is the best slow-paced song on the album. And also Ashes Up Your Sleeve with a slight punk vibe added to it and a weird wah-wah guitar solo.

With that said, I gotta mention the smooth flow of the tracks. They all feel connected and they're all arranged in just the perfect order to sound organic. The powerful start is followed by songs that get softer and more melodic, before it powers up again, then winds down even harder, before it finishes with the same power it started. It's almost like a concept album, which it might actually be, I just didn't pay attention to the lyrics.

And for a good reason: Those lyrics are straight awful. They do an okay job at stringing together words that sound good, but once you start paying attention, it turns out it's just generic metal wanking and grandpa's random political tirades. Seriously, I half expected the vocalist Damien to start ranting about "them evil jews" during Freedom.

_______________________________

In conclusion: This is a solid effort from a very talented band, with a lot of creative solutions and compositional tricks. Great interplay between the heavy and melodic sides of the music, with lots of tasty riffs sprinkled in. But it lacks variety and is a bit boring, not to mention the terrible lyrics you'll just have to tune out while you listen.

If perhaps Undercode was a lot more productive in writing more albums, this could be hailed as a first of many from one of the biggest metal bands of Croatia. Perhaps even a spearheader of the Croatian metal scene. But as it stands right now, this is nothing but an underrated classic.