I'm really sad to say that I had to wait for this to leak to get the whole thing, because I switched banks and STILL haven't gotten cheques, and haven't been able to sort out my credit card thing, cause I'm a student living in poverty, lol. But I am happy to say that I'll be buying it the second I do get some (and probably a shirt), so don't worry!
First of all, I can't get enough of Shards of Love, holy hell... talk about packing a punch to start an album. I'm absolutely in love with this thing, so I'm sure I'll end up using this as a dumping ground for all my great things to say about it, so I'll get the discussion going.
First, as per usual, the lyrics are fantastic. And since I know where most of them are coming from AKA which experiences, it makes it even more cool. To me it almost seems like a combined, saddened reflection on the ideas from the first two albums, being the failed relationship and all that stuff from Pursuit, and then the frustration of home, boredom of day to day life... both seem to be a look back through experienced eyes, whether its from the passing of time, the trip to Korea, stuff like that. Not to try to psycho-analyze you to death or something, but when put in the context of the other albums, it just works amazingly.
Second, the mix of styles works perfect. Of course this stuff is way more doom and slow than anything Woods has ever done... yet is still totally Woods. Not sure many bands can pull that kind of thing off. I also love how the two sort of more ballsy tracks Cargoload and Halves are together, then to make way to You Are Here and Retrosleep... its a really creepy juxtaposition. I kind of make a big deal of the placing of tracks in an album (especially a long one) cause it can either flow great or totally ruin momentum, I find, I think its done really well here.
Third, production. Fantastic. Production on Woods III wasn't really as good as I would have wanted it, to be honest (though I love that album to death) and a lot of that has to do with my expectations from Pursuit, which sounds like, well, gold. Anyway, this album is totally crushing... I actually had to turn my subwoofer DOWN for it! So there you go.
Fourth, of course, the songs fucking rule. The vocals (which I think are the strongest out of any Woods album yet, I think, the variety is great) the lead lines slay, Bryan, and of course the rhythm section is totally rock solid, just as I saw live. The fact that you didn't just keep my attention but kept me enthralled the entire way through a fucking 78 MINUTE long beast is pure insanity.
DG, you should be proud as hell, this is bloody awesome. Not to mention each full length is over an hour long without a bad song, and Winamp now tells me that between all four records, there's 4 hours and 2 minutes of Woods stuff now in existence... not exactly a simple feat, clearly. Honestly, this band, the song writing, all of it continues to be an inspiration to me as I keep writing, slogging through school, and one day hope to break loose a bit, record some stuff, play some shows, and get some of my music out there (when the time comes), especially of course living in Ontario, and all that. The Woods dream is alive and kicking, I can't wait to see some of this live, if you guys can't make it to London, I'll have to bust my ass up to Toronto. All the best! \w/
(Oh yeah, one complaint... maybe it was cause there wasn't enough physical space on the disc... but you should have made Halves and Quarters, ironically, twice the length... that song is too good to only be 2 and a half minutes
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