Üga Büga Premiere “The Sand Witch”; Valley of the Wolf Out June 5
Dually-umlauted Virginian heavy trio Üga Büga release their second album, Valley of the Wolf (review here), on June 5 through Louisville’s Third House Communications. Premiering on the Bandcamp player below is “The Sand Witch,” which bears out the record’s blend of metal and heavy rock, sharpened turns of riff toned like a fuller version of a Dio record with rocker-burl vocals over top. It’s a dudely affect, and they’re not the first to employ it, but neither is the three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Calloway Jones, bassist Niko Cvetanovich, and drummer Jimmy Czywczynski (which I would pronounce “chiv-chinski,” and wonder if I’m right) wanting for self-awareness in their presentation, if the hairless cats in the photo above didn’t already make the point. “The Sand Witch” is the whopping fourth single from Valley of the Wolf, so if you haven’t gotten an idea of where they’re coming from as yet, the opportunity is certainly there, figuratively as well as literally on the same player.
And whether or not you caught wind of Üga Büga‘s 2024 debut, Year of the Hog (review here), Valley of the Wolf tells its story in clear and unmistakable terms, fusing genre elements 
across the chugging “Earthsuckers” and the more aggressive crunch of “Divination,” groove underlying all as they go, even the purposefully atmospheric “Ghost in the Diamond Cage” and the foreboding drum-thud and keyboard cycles of the penultimate intro/interlude “Descent” ahead of the extended and part-thrashy finale “Revolting Power.” It may be there’s a narrative at work lyrically, but when I say ‘story’ above, I mean the one about who the band are in terms of sound. Jones has a clear background in metal vocalizing — his harsher shouts and screams feel like not the first time he’s scoured his vocal cords for the cause — and the trio are able to thread between rock and metal all the more for their variety of purpose, each piece offering something to add to the entirety. Not a new idea for how to work an album, by any means, but put to effective use on the careening “Motorhog” and elsewhere. Is someone in this band a fan of At the Gates?
Having multiple songwriters, as they proport to in the PR wire below, having initially played Jones‘ compositions, accounts for some of that intent-diversity, but largely straightforward structures — and by that I mean straight to your likely-unsuspecting face — melody and rhythmic sweep keep the proceedings accessible, at least for the converted. That is to say, Valley of the Wolf isn’t without its challenging aspects, but it does successfully bridge its different sides together, sounding like a cohesive whole rather than ‘now-we-thrash-now-we-riff,’ not that that can’t also have an appeal. Like its righteous comic-style cover art, the album is busy and colorful in the details, but if you step back and take it in as an entirety, it forms a coherent, single thing. It just roughs you up a little bit in the process of doing so.
The preorder link and more info follows the song on the player below, courtesy of the PR wire.
Please enjoy:
Preorder link: https://ugabuga.bandcamp.com/album/valley-of-the-wolf
Hailing from Virginia, Üga Büga fuses influences like Mastodon, Soundgarden, High on Fire, and The Mars Volta into a genre-bending force of rock and heavy metal. Their forceful sound is matched by fantastical lyrics of post-apocalyptic hog men, sinister wizards, and dual-wielding warriors tearing through landscapes on motorcycles—evoking scenes similar to the worlds of TMNT, Dragon Ball, and other classic comics and cartoons. Riding high after their 2024 debut album, Year of the Hog, ÜGA BÜGA is set to unleash their next chapter, Valley of the Wolf.
Formed in mid-2021, ÜGA BÜGA experimented with various lineups and styles before solidifying their current lineup in November 2022, featuring singer/guitarist Calloway Jones, bassist Niko Cvetanovich, and drummer Jimmy Czywczynski. This lineup infused their own diverse styles into a collection of songs written by Calloway Jones, reshaping them into a cohesive and undeniably heavier sound—one that would define their debut album, Year of the Hog. Now, the band writes collaboratively, with each member’s contributions playing a crucial role in shaping their evolving sound.
Third House Communications on Bandcamp
Tags: Third House Communications, Üga Büga, Üga Büga Valley of the Wolf, Valley of the Wolf, Virginia
