Woe - Quietly, Undramatically
Candlelight
Black Metal

Release year: 2010
Myspace, Candlelight
Reviewed by Charles
Following on from 2008’s well-received debut A Spell for the Death of Man, Woe (formed by Chris Griggs of Krieg) impress again with this clever and passionate slab of USBM. Scanning the lineup (Griggs himself has worked with several bands including the intriguing progressive sludge project Mose Giganticus, and members of acts as diverse as Rumpelstiltskin Grinder and Woods of Ypres are also involved) you might expect variety. And that impression is heightened by looking at the running order, which presents us with seven tracks ranging from two to twelve minutes in length. And, for sure, it is a diverse album. Though it never strays from orthodox black metal, there are moments of eyebrow-furrowing creativeness, punkish rage and depressive heartbreak.

Krieg is certainly a useful reference point in its blackened and rumbling use of melody, but on the whole this is a much sunnier sound which is sometimes almost comparable to acts like Terzij de Horde. Quietly Undramatically is far more tuneful, and it doesn’t embrace anything like the same fuzzy and uncompromising edginess. Indeed, the press release talks about the band’s desire to bring a ‘human and relatable’ element to black metal. This might be sacrilege to some, but the greatest North American black metal of recent years has done exactly this. You won’t find the same depthless, searing intensity as on, for example, the recent Ash Borer and Fell Voices split (check this out now), but there is instead an engaging warmth to be uncovered. The trembling melodic lead guitar lines such as those on A Treatise on Control anchor the listener securely in family-friendly melodic black territory, but a better example of what I mean, paradoxically, is the high-energy violence of tunes like Without Logic which grasp you like a sweaty friend at a punk concert. Hatred is our Heart features gang choruses that reverberate like a ghastly and corpsepainted hardcore crew (or perhaps Nachtmystium’s tune Assassins).

On the longer songs, we often find the energy kicking down a gear to concentrate on mood and song-craft. The second half of the title track hints at the progressive leanings that are increasingly common in the field nowadays, allowing rich melodies to seep through the deep and growling black metal sound. But the twelve minute Full Circle seems to be the centrepiece around which the rest of the album swirls. It’s a tricky piece, turning from macho mid tempo growling to sensitive, folksy lead guitar lines. It’s not entirely gripping from start to finish, but the gorgeous blasting melodicism (building down into acoustic folk) that occupies the last couple of minutes is irresistible. This is a strong album, creative and engaging, and a (relatively speaking) bright and breezy take on USBM before we are consumed by Krieg’s The Isolationist and its all-encompassing oppression.

Killing Songs :
Full Circle, Without Logic
Charles quoted 83 / 100
Other albums by Woe that we have reviewed:
Woe - Withdrawal reviewed by Charles and quoted 90 / 100
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