A little WoY hate...

S

Smoof

Vacancy
Oct 16, 2005
132
0
16
Colorado, USA
I'm curious about peoples opinions on this matter, of course, I've come to post at the forum that's going to be the most bias, but whatever :kickass: :lol:

Anyway, it seems that I encounter quite a bit of WoY hate around the net. It seems as though there are two types. A) People who haven't heard of/heard WoY and B) People who outright hate the band. I personally really enjoyed the stuff as soon as I first got my "Against The Seasons" album and have been hoping to someday get my hands on the second release. I'm very much awaiting the third. In addition, I've just recently ordered a brown t-shirt (Waiting on the blood red ones now :headbang: ). But, no matter where I go, people seem to be calling Woods an "_Agalloch_ copy. Personally, I can see the influence and while the music is similar, Woods definitely has it's own type of sound. I tend to wonder if it's less the fact that Woods of Ypres suck (which is not true of course) and more the fact that it's not "KVLT" "TR00" Black Metal.

Anyway, opinions? David, I'm very much wanting to hear your own thoughts, of course. I just don't understand why people seem to carry so much hate for you guys and seem to insist that Woods is just another clone.

Either way, to hell I say. I'm going to keep supporting you all and listening until I die, in an unfanboyish way of course ;)

Edit: I haven't proofread this post, so if it doesn't flow or has spelling/grammatical errors, whatever. I'm going to bed.
 
I think its prolly because Dave has said the band are influenced by Opeth and similar bands that do the heavy mellow thing...
 
From the various things I've read over the last 2-3 years, it seems that detractors fall into a few different camps:

1) those that don't like the 'shift' in style between the demo and Pursuit
2) those that acknowledge the Opeth influence AND dislike Opeth's recent output, therefore shifting their disdain for Opeth on to WOY
3) those that have a personal beef with band members
4) those in other (Ontario, in particular) bands who come across as 'jealous' of some of the WOY accolades
5) sometimes there's a combo of all 4
6) and, as always, those that the band's music 'does nothing for'

It's kind of funny-- Opeth and Type O Negative are two of DG's biggest influences, and those two bands have typically done nothing for me-- yet WOY is easily one of my favorite bands of the last couple years.
 
I haven't heard much WoY criticism - mainly because WoY aren't as well known as many "big" bands in metal, but the sort of criticism mentioned above is a bit retarded. Saying WoY rip off Agalloch is equally stupid as saying Agalloch rip off Opeth. Three different bands, three different styles. The only thing in common between all three is the use of acoustics and changes in dynamics, and, well, people have been doing that for ages now.
 
Every band will be hated by somebody, and personally I haven't noticed any exceptional criticism of WoY. Some people even hate on the beatles and pink floyd. Its a strange world, but as a band gets more popular theres always and equal an opposite dislike among another group of people. I believe einestein called it P=UP where p equals popularity.
 
Smoof said:
and more the fact that it's not "KVLT" "TR00" Black Metal.
Click to expand...

Dave, please don't ever start wearing make-up and "corpse paint" like you're trying to scare a bunch of 7 year olds. :p And honestly, any band (Or person for that matter)that takes their image seriously like that is a joke. It's one thing to be serious about the type of music you play/listen to, but to be that serious about the image is retarded, in my opinion. A lot of the black metal bands out their just wear it for fun and as a gimmick, not because they're like "We're not tr00 enough and our music will suck if we don't wear this face paint and call it goats blood and shit", haha.

Oh, and for the record, I don't think I've actually ever seen any WoY hate on the net, haha.
 
it doesnt matter if a few people hate WoY because we all know theyre a great, honest band that doesnt rip off similiar acts and doesnt try to be something theyre not. all that matters is that YOU like them.
 
I havnt seen any hate besides some of those review on MA. Also most, all? of my friends who arent really into metal like WOY.
 
Generally speaking the more mature metal outfits will gain less support. Novembers Doom is another band that has fallen victim to this. So be it, I'm happy as long as these quality bands continue their fine work in the knowledge there's a specific section of the metal community or "fanbase" that will support them throughout.
At the same time I might add I quite enjoy some of the more theatrical bands out there. A little image building (in the broad sense of the word) never hurt anyone. In fact a few bands could do with a little more of that. I've never been a huge fan of the bermuda thing bands like Napalm Death or Obituary have going for them. Although it probably makes more sense for a band hailing from Florida than it does for a UK based bunch of lads. :loco:
 
There was a pretty big backlash upon the release of Pursuit of the Sun...

I initially loved the album, then went through a few phases of not being able to sit through it, loving it again, etc. Its been probably a year since I listened to it, but thanks to this thread I think I'll break it out right now!

edit: haha this rules! i love it again. dave was right, i just had to wait for summer to return!
 
A few things...

Though we are influenced by and are fans of Agalloch now, I had never even heard of them until "The Mantle" was released, which was after "Against the Seasons" was recorded. We do look up to them for their class and maturity within their writing and the overall package that is 'Agalloch'.

Opeth was never really an influence of ours, but was used as more of a reference point to the metal audience in previous years when they were 'new' and WoY was completely unknown (as we are more similar to Opeth than say Cannibal Corpse).

WoY's real influences are: Amorphis, Borknagar, Crowbar, Type O Negative, Katatonia, etc...

In my opinion, if you really, actually "HATE" a band, you're probably a total fucking loser. If you don't like a band for any reason, then why waste your time on them, you know? There's lots of bands I don't care for, but you know, you'll never hear about them from me. Listen to the music you like and enjoy it. And yes, we have haters, and from what I can see, they all seem to possess similar personality characteristsics that I personally find undesirable, and I just can't seem to relate to them on any level...so no loss to us by not having them on our side. In fact, as obsessed as some of them seem to be with hating us, it only increases our presence on the net as they keep talking about us and peak the interest of new listeners who then listen and actually like us. We're not bothering anyone with what we do, or spamming the net with crap, promoting ourselves. These days, we just exist, privately almost. I do think sometimes that out 'haters' are often threatened by us and what we are about. It's strange.

We are not a copy of anyone. In fact, we are constantly changing and evolving (ATS -> Pursuit -> Woods 3. Just watch!) and we'll continue to do so. We make the music WE want to make, for ourselves, first and foremost. It's all very self indulgent really, but we'll never take for granted the fact that there are people who enjoy and support what we do. So thanks to those!!! Besisdes, there's never any time to second guess anything we do. We just write, record, get it out of our system and get on with our lives.

We just do our thing, and we will keep doing our thing. Like it or not. The power of the riffs compel us!

:)

P.S. After this weekend, guitars on Woods 3 are now 3/4 recorded!!! Sounding HUGE!!!
 
David Gold said:
WoY's real influences are: Amorphis, Borknagar, Crowbar, Type O Negative, Katatonia, etc...
Click to expand...
speaking of crowbar, locate me one of these buttfucking sons of bitches, i do have a crowbar in my garage, and it is starting to get rusty, as for copying, well they sing so they must copy britany spears, minus the silicone and unwanted pregnancies, i dont think anyone should be able to criticize a band of copying another
 
David Gold said:
A few things...

Though we are influenced by and are fans of Agalloch now, I had never even heard of them until "The Mantle" was released, which was after "Against the Seasons" was recorded. We do look up to them for their class and maturity within their writing and the overall package that is 'Agalloch'.

Opeth was never really an influence of ours, but was used as more of a reference point to the metal audience in previous years when they were 'new' and WoY was completely unknown (as we are more similar to Opeth than say Cannibal Corpse).

WoY's real influences are: Amorphis, Borknagar, Crowbar, Type O Negative, Katatonia, etc...

In my opinion, if you really, actually "HATE" a band, you're probably a total fucking loser. If you don't like a band for any reason, then why waste your time on them, you know? There's lots of bands I don't care for, but you know, you'll never hear about them from me. Listen to the music you like and enjoy it. And yes, we have haters, and from what I can see, they all seem to possess similar personality characteristsics that I personally find undesirable, and I just can't seem to relate to them on any level...so no loss to us by not having them on our side. In fact, as obsessed as some of them seem to be with hating us, it only increases our presence on the net as they keep talking about us and peak the interest of new listeners who then listen and actually like us. We're not bothering anyone with what we do, or spamming the net with crap, promoting ourselves. These days, we just exist, privately almost. I do think sometimes that out 'haters' are often threatened by us and what we are about. It's strange.

We are not a copy of anyone. In fact, we are constantly changing and evolving (ATS -> Pursuit -> Woods 3. Just watch!) and we'll continue to do so. We make the music WE want to make, for ourselves, first and foremost. It's all very self indulgent really, but we'll never take for granted the fact that there are people who enjoy and support what we do. So thanks to those!!! Besisdes, there's never any time to second guess anything we do. We just write, record, get it out of our system and get on with our lives.

We just do our thing, and we will keep doing our thing. Like it or not. The power of the riffs compel us!

:)

P.S. After this weekend, guitars on Woods 3 are now 3/4 recorded!!! Sounding HUGE!!!
Click to expand...

Borknagar for the friggin win. Archaic Course is absolutely classic in every way.
 
We are not a copy of anyone.
Click to expand...

I couldn't have said it better. when i got pursuit a couple of years ago, i had heard nothing like it. It was very original. Then i got against the seasons last november and it still was not like any other black metal, it had it's own sound and atmosphere that i had never experienced. And this fall i can't wait for woods 3!
 
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