Metal Reviews

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Awesome album. Great review as well. I find it strange that this is called black metal. It sounds at times like old Opeth, mostly during the acoustic moments and at times like the heavier moments of modern My Dying Bride with its thick rumbling riffs. There are few moments of all out black metal riffing and blast beats. So, when you add in the recording and the lyrics, it fits well under the doom label. You did a good job explaining that in your review.

Basically if you liked the bands mentioned in his review you will dig this album big time! I would have liked it even more if it was more aggressive but like early Opeth the acoustic guitar parts are actually interesting and the clean vocals are excellent. Besides there are plenty of pounding heavy riffs and growls to keep me interested. Check it out!

Thanks for the comments. I can't stress this enough: if you're into black metal but don't like Opeth or Agalloch, you're probably not going to like this, you've all been warned. On the other hand if you do like those bands you should go and download the mp3s and buy this CD (assuming you liked the mp3s, which you should).

I've heard the track, "Shedding the Deadwood" and really enjoyed it. I'd also throw in old Katatonia and old Ulver to describe this band's influences. It seems to me that the afforementioned bands plus Opeth and Agalloch as previously mentioned created a strange hybrid of black/doom metal with acoustic folk guitar influences to make their own genre. Wood of Ypres is the most interesting Canadian band I know of.

I downloaded the 2 samples from the site... I found the track "the sun was in my eyes" like a "paraversion" of Opeths "When" (My arms...) Very good stuff!

Thank you for reviewing this album man, very good review too. I really like this album, but still I think I like their previous album/demo better. It contains a different kind of melancholy, that is more black and beautiful. I think I can best explain this by a few examples: take the song "Night's Blood" by Dissection, and "The Light At The End Of The Earth" by My Dying Bride; Both songs are pretty sad and melancholic, but in a different way, this is also how "Against the seasons" and "Allure of the earth" can be compared: frozen beauty in despair versus my lover died styled atmospheres, the first one is my favorite style of atmosphere, that's why I love meloblack and viking/folkblack so much...

The Kvlt Kommander has not lsitneed to this CD but with a name liek Woods of Ypres it must be Kvlt. Good job on the review it is also Kvlt

By the way, the Agalloch is quite correct, but only for this new album. Amorphis is one of their other great influences I guess.

At last! I finally could listen to this masterpiece; simply amazing !

This one will be on my top 15 of the year for sure; Gast and Crims sure didn't lie!!

Get this one or DIE !!!

Well, I still think against the seasons is better than this one... it's colder...

I would have enjoyed this more were it not for the opeth influences. i'm sick of this avant garde artsy fartsy bull shit that these Swedes are trying to incorporate into metal. metal is dirty fast and rockin, these guys sound like they listen to too much emo and scrap the heavy metal and go straight for the emotion and atmosphere. hmm if I want atmosphere I'll listen to Van Gelis or Tangerine Dream, they're more metal than Opeth, or this band. So stick with the heavy and get rid of the masturbatory image. no one cares about some gothic fag who's so depressed that he feels he needs to make his music illegible. If I want that I'll listen to Kreator's Pleasure to Kill, cuz its sloppy as hell and at times illegible, in the auditory sense. So I hope you fags are ready for me cuz I'm going to blast all of your modern shit every time.

Calling us fags is a good way to get banned. Keep it up and you won't be "blasting modern shit" for very long. Your opinion is certainly valid but keep acting like a pissed off 12 year old and it won't matter how valid it is.

plz crims let the fag have a chance to be only so we can laugh about it, or proove he's also capable in not being one (he has a point). I'm pretty pissed you banned the other guy (IAmTheBlackWizards), because he was a good source of discussion. It's diverse people that make these forums fun!

I don't mind diverse opinions, and I think it's an interesting opinion, it's the way it's presented.

Song by In Pain Die: "Live With It".

If I've offended anyone, I'm sorry, and fuck you. Metal is heavy aggressive music, thus any argument on the subject should be presented in a similar manner, just short of violence. So "Feel the FIre" bitches. All this new black metal....is not black metal. Simple enough right? Wrong, some of you bitches are going to come out of the wood work and tell me how awesome all of these new bands are. Fuck! The last good black metal band was Immortal. Darkthrone is the blackest, and Burzum is the most deranged. Aside from that, all these faggy vampire wannabees with their stupid names and laughable band pictures do the genre no justice by their over use of keyboards. Black Metal does not use keyboards, whatever atmosphere comes off in the music is from the poor production and general satanic fervor with which it was produced. So with that in mind, hail satan and posers will die!

Wait... essentially, you're going to show up every time something 'modern' is reviewed and post a long-winded, nonsensical rant that we can all ignore? Oh no, heaven help us, we are all doomed.

Ow gimme a break, darkthrone black?!?! Immortal are big posers (with good productions) and darkthrone is just a wannabe band. All sellouts, and nothing you can compare the good old underground with! stupid fag, you think that darkthrone is the only band with that sound, or the first?
now go fuck yourself while i go listen to vlad tepes belketre split and moonblood!

Actually, I would never say such a thing like this, but since it's you, i show how easy it is to bash the music. if you're so bitchy about newer oldschool black metal, then I can be bitchy about popular older black metal too... i bet you like that other sellout bm band (dark funeral) too.

I agree with most of what you're saying, however, I beleive that the acoustic parts in this album are not nearly as cool as oOpeth acoustic parts, which I feel are consistently cool, creative and very effective at creating a mood and progressing the song along.

Woods of ypres, I feel lack in this department, the acoustic parts seeming to me to be more "placeholder" stuff, and less inspired.

I do like the ablum, overall though, and I want to make particular mention of the really cool visual artwork, including the cover which I think capyures the essence of WoY's sound, the font of the bandname, which is just cool, and the black and gold cd art, which I think is frame-worthy.

Great independent release!!

This album took me to another place.

That doesn't happen very often.


.... I yearn for some appreciation, just an open perspective; that is all,


Cheers.