WOODS OF YPRES - Pursuit of the Sun & Allure of the Earth

[Erik]

Self-released, 2004

1. Intro: The Looming of Dust in the Dark
2. The Will to Give
3. The Sun was in My Eyes: Part 1
4. The Sun was in My Eyes: Part 2
5. Allure of the Earth
6. Shedding the Deadwood
7. Dragged Across a Forest Floor
8. Summer's Envy
9. The Ghosts of Summer's Past
10. Outro: The End of August

WOODS OF YPRES mastermind David Gold, author of Against the Seasons - Cold Winter Songs from the Dead Summer Heat, in my opinion one of the best demo CD's ever, is back with an entirely new lineup [EDIT: see note at bottom of review], a full-length's worth of self-proclaimed "summer black metal" (apparently, Mr. Gold chose to work with the seasons instead of against them this time,) impeccable production and... inferior songwriting.

Indeed, my first listens to this album proved to be huge letdowns, where I had some difficulties listening to the whole 61 minute thing straight through as instructed by David, but being a fan of not-so-immediate metal, I imagined that subsequent listens would reveal the album to be at least as good as Against the Seasons (which had been far more immediate.) As it would turn out, and I'm going to be perfectly honest here, further listens made my initial disappointment deeper and deeper, to finally culminate in actual, honest anger at what I felt was a distinctly sub-par effort by a band who had, at demo level, made a nearly flawless release. Then I let the album rest for a while, then I listened to it again, and again, and again, and then I decided to write this review.

I'm no longer enraged, because this album has turned out to be a quality release after all. My disappointment still lingers, though, because this is not an improvement compared to Against the Seasons. Let me elaborate on why I feel this way:

The new vocalist. [EDIT: see note at bottom of review] The harsh vocals, used more sparingly now, are impeccable, and indeed more powerful and proficient than those by Brian McManus on the previous release. The clean vocals are also quite proficient, having a pleasant texture and delivery, but a huge problem to my ears are the vocal melodies. On my first listen, towards the end of the album, I could predict with fair accuracy, in the middle of a sung phrase, how the next half of the melody would turn out. Quite simply, most of the vocal melodies here remind me of each other, staying largely within the same range and scales and generally not really showing the same degree of emotion as previous bassist/singer Aaron Palmer's.

In my review of Against the Seasons, I wrote:

I'm still a little concerned. I don't really have great fears that the next WOY release will be worse than this, but I do hope the vocals will be as good as they were on this, because especially the clean vocals here were one of the things that impressed me the most. I'll just have to wait and see, won't I?

Unfortunately, my slight fears proved true to an extent. Remember the incredible culmination of emotion towards the end of the brilliantly structured "The Sea of Immeasurable Loss?" Remember "for the rain that falls on me was drawn... FROM THE SEAAA OF IMMEASURABLE LOOO-OOO-OOO-OOOSSS! THE SEA OF IMMEASUREABLE LOSS!" There's unfortunately none of that here. Which leads me onto my next point...

Songwriting. On Against the Seasons, songs had a true sense of movement, where songs reached logical conclusions and emotional climaxes, and where individual parts formed a greater whole. Here, a lot of this is missing. Songs like "Summer's Envy" and "The Will to Give" have quality riffs, but ultimately leave me wondering what they are trying to accomplish, as they move seemingly haphazardly, throwing random parts at me from out of the blue only to end up basically nowhere by the end of the song. OPETH syndrome. I am somewhat distressed.

More examples: "The Ghosts of Summer's Past" starts with great promise as a ballad-ish acoustic song, only to, right when you think it's going to crank up the intensity and become something truly great, throw me into another, unrelated acoustic riff with hand claps (!!!) over it. Which leaves me scratching my head. Then it kind of meanders for a while until its premature end, with a great female vocal part on top of (synth) piano, which sorta-but-not-really leads into the other track featuring female vocals, the outro track, which is one of the better songs on the record, with vivid lyrics and great use of repetition creating sublime atmosphere. Until the end, where it ends. Oh, wait, it doesn't. There's a minute following a moment at the very end; good music for what it is, very doomy, but why not integrate it with the song instead?

Anyway, there is great song structuring to be found here also. Aside from "Outro: The End of August", mentioned above, the two-part "The Sun was in my Eyes" stands out as probably the best song on here (as it happens, it is also probably the closest in style to Against the Seasons.) This song is simply beautiful, with its ULVER-esque male "aah" choirs and acoustic layering underneath electric guitars. This is the WOODS OF YPRES I love, and had the whole of the album been like this, this had been a solid 9 at least.

Unfortunately, as it stands, it isn't. While I have grown to like this album with several albums, I still don't love it like I do Against the Seasons. There are too many small things, too many parts that don't grip me; sometimes even the lyrics seem somewhat lacking, being overly verbose and obvious and overly metaphoric at the same time, if that makes any sense.

So, as I said: not an improvement. Unfortunately. This is not at all a bad album, and it might end up somewhere on my top 10 of 2004, but I would have wanted the new YPRES album on a #1 spot. As it stands, that's not going to happen. A step down.

Rating: 7.7/10
_________________________________________________________________
EDIT, a day later: As I found out only after finishing the review, every YPRES member except Jessica (keyboards) and, obviously, David Gold, had left the band either before or during (!!!) the recording sessions, leaving the band not only lacking a touring line-up, but most importantly to this review, leaving David to perform all the vocals by himself. With this in mind, the imperfect clean vocals can very much be forgiven, and I must commend David for not giving up through all the hardships he experienced before & during recording this album. Still, I leave my rating as it is, because my impression of the songwriting and music contained on the disc and my disappointment still stand.

 

[NAD]

Huh. Good review though, very thorough. I still plan on buying this.

 

[Black Winter Day]

I disagree about it being a step down, although I admire your honest review. I think the over-abundance of clean vocals and unpredictable song movements (although not nearly as prevalent or meandering as Opeth) are part of a very nice progression away from the more black metal territory of the demo (not that it was a pure BM sound). A winner that I plan on listening to many more times.

 

[En Vind Av Sorg]

Erik you do know that the linep dropped out in early recording stages dont you?
David Gold ended up doing everything except Keys (Done by Jessica who is the only other member in the band now). So thats david singing, and doing guitar and what not.

 

[Krilons Resa]

I enjoy the demo more as well, but shit, I didn't know al that either.

 

[MajestikMøøse]

hmm... I didn't recall seeing credit for them in the booklet, but that is an odd observation.

Perhaps David might be able to clear this up for us.

I think its a solid release, but I do agree its a bit of a step down, sadly.

 

[spaffe]

first of all: good review.

i liked to their demo but the samples of PotSAotE (phew) i heard did not entice me in any way to check it out, the main reason beeing the nasal and whiney clear vocals which *shudders* reminded me of the bitchy singer in placebo

 

[Erik]

I added a note to the review.

 

[En Vind Av Sorg]

Fuck, your right Erik, I forgot about that post David made. Yea as it looks, the bass and the guitar tracks had already been layed down. If im not mistaken I think david added a little guitar work into the album as well. I thought I saw him post something about him adding extra guitar peices near the end of recording.

 

[Demilich]

I still love the album, but this review was very honest and well written. There are some weak points in the lyrics, but the music doesn't bother me at all. Not as boring/meandering/pointless as Opeth can be, not by a long shot.

 

[Demilich]

Absolutely not. I'm just seeing some slightly disturbing developments in that general direction.

I'll have to give it another listen with that in mind. I guess it'd help if I'd listened to Opeth in the past few months also. Blah.

Since reading this review, I've listened to Against the Seasons four or five times in the past 24 hours. Way to go, Erik!

 

[JayKeeley]

OK here is my unsolicited opinion.

I wanted to collect my thoughts on this before responding to Erik's review. I don't think I am completely surprised at Erik's impression here, but then I bet he wouldn't be surprised that I really like this album a lot. He knows my tastes and indeed, the addition of lots more clean vocals works favorably towards my personal tastes.

I don't think I can compare it to Against the Seasons because I think I like these releases both equally for what they are.....no, I'll be honest and go out on a limb, I think I prefer this new one but maybe it's the excitement of it all being fresh. Time will tell....in any case, is this a step down? Not to me. By suggesting this is a step down would imply that all the progressive elements have been taken out of the initial release and we'd simply end up with a bog-standard BM release, which is not the case. Side-step? No, since the differences between the two are way too obvious. Step forward? I'd say so. People might not like the progression, but nevertheless, it is a step forward, at least to my ears.

I agree with Erik in that both clean and harsh vocals are very "proficient". Even the spoken narrative is nice. Hell, I'd say the vocals kick my ass all the way to Constantinople. Yes, there are parts where the range becomes a little difficult, espeically towards the end of "The Sun Was in My Eyes pt 1", but this is a minor gripe. Still, I think the vocals are altogether endearing in that they match the emotions carried within the underlying music, so I wouldn't want them too polished perhaps.

I think I also agree with the predictability of the somewhat montonous vocal melodies, unfortunately. It begins on track #6, "Shedding the Deadwood" where I begin to wonder if I've already heard this song? Still, it's not that bad. The worst example I've ever heard where the vocal melodies are almost identical in each track is on the second Into Eternity album, so I've heard worse, but I digress...

There are moments of greatness throughout: "The Will to Give" - I disagree slightly that this song is haphazard in an Opeth manner, and I'll tell you why: the chorus is stunning. It acts as a hook, and keeps the song anchored -- something Opeth cannot have in their music (unless you're talking about the Wilson recipe era), but still, Opeth aren't known for their choruses, and this song has a great melodious vocal line applied to where it matters -- in the heart of the song. Love the subtle bass work going on in the background here too.

I agree with everything Erik says about "The Sun was in my Eyes pt 1 & 2". Simply classic -- perhaps some of the best music I've heard from a 2004 release.

Track #7, "Dragged Along the Forest Floor" -- the dynamics just throw me against the wall. Pretty aggressive throughout with mostly harsh vocals, with some moments of impending doom and a slowed down riff that I wish I had written, and then it ends on some beautiful mournful clean vocals, symbolizing the nearing of the end...in fact, the outro to this has emotion to the hilt.

Bad points: "Allure of the Earth" just kills me. Unfortunately, the first time I heard this, I thought the chorus sounded too much like Guns n Roses' "Civil War". No lie. And now each time I hear it, I can't help but think of the lyrics "I don't need your civil war" during the chorus. I know this probably sounds dumb to talk about GnR in a Woods of Ypres discussion, but this song really does sound like something GnR could have written. Not that I have anything against GnR, but this is my least favorite track on the CD.

"Summer's Envy" sounds like latter-day Katatonia at times. It's ok, a little bland, and not as good as the other tracks.

I like the fact that "Ghosts of a Summer's Past" is purposely held back. I can't put my finger on it, but to me it feels like the calm before the storm. You just know something big is about to happen....and indeed it does on the final outro track. It couldn't be more Autumnal if it tried.

I think listening to this CD is where I begin to understand the term "Summer Black Metal". The emotions at play here are excellent, going from harsh to sorrowful clean harmonies, in the way that the Summer bleeds itself into Autumn. Nothing too bleak here, and nothing that resembles icy cold Norwegian riffs but Woods of Ypres know better than to emulate something that would now sound derivative. There is a certain hopelessness, caught within the choruses especially, reflecting something drawing to an end. It's an almost natural retirement of the soundscape.

My score: 9/10 and etched into my final ten list of 2004 for sure.

Just my two Rupees.

 

[Demilich]

I'm much more of a fan of Jay's review, to be honest. I have to say one thing: I've heard a few people mention a similarity to Katatonia in this album, but I just don't hear it. And I love Katatonia, they were my favourite band for a long time and I've heard all their albums hundreds of times, but I just don't hear much of a similarity in this WoY album. WTH?

Also, I think I might be starting to agree with you on "Allure of the Earth". Initially, it was my favourite song on the album, but since then it's lost some of it's appeal. "Summer's Envy" on the other hand, I disliked at first (esp. the vocals in the chorus), and now I've come to enjoy it a lot.

The transition from "The Ghosts of Summer's Past" to "Outro: The End of August" is great! As are both of those songs.

 

[Erik]

I never once thought of Katatonia while listening to this... Yeah, IAE, the outro rules.

I think I also agree with the predictability of the somewhat montonous vocal melodies, unfortunately. It begins on track #6, "Shedding the Deadwood" where I begin to wonder if I've already heard this song?

Good to know I wasn't alone in thinking the same thing.

He knows my tastes and indeed, the addition of lots more clean vocals works favorably towards my personal tastes.

Gah. Never mind THAT, I don't care. When Agalloch did the same thing and moved to mostly clean vox (actually this seems to have kind of the same harsh/clean proportion as "The Mantle") it was still a 9.5/10 (I don't think my review currently says so, but it's grown on me.) I just feel that the songwriting has taken a step down.

 

[Erik]

Since reading this review, I've listened to Against the Seasons four or five times in the past 24 hours. Way to go, Erik!

Hehe, rules doesn't it? That's the first thing I did after finishing the review, too. I don't think there's a demo which I've listened to more.

 

[Demilich]

Hehe, rules doesn't it? That's the first thing I did after finishing the review, too. I don't think there's a demo which I've listened to more.

A friend and I were recently having this argument: is it actually a demo, or would it be better classified as an actual album? The recording quality is pretty fucking good, and the length (though I can't remember exactly) is comparable to some really short albums, isn't it? Over half an hour?

 

[JayKeeley]

When Agalloch did the same thing and moved to mostly clean vox (actually this seems to have kind of the same harsh/clean proportion as "The Mantle") it was still a 9.5/10 (I don't think my review currently says so, but it's grown on me.) I just feel that the songwriting has taken a step down.

Well, let me clarify then. It is because of the clean vocals that I find this album to be quite fascinating. Had the entire album been made up of only harsh vocals, I would have found it rather unadventurous.

Anyway, like I said, as with any release, only time will tell. :Spin:

P.S. The only place I hear a Katatonia similarity is on the first half of "Summers Envy", and specifically in the riff/vocal section -- "how can you subject me?" -- there seems to be a 'Last Fair Deal Gone Down' thing going on.

 

[Erik]

A friend and I were recently having this argument: is it actually a demo, or would it be better classified as an actual album? The recording quality is pretty fucking good, and the length (though I can't remember exactly) is comparable to some really short albums, isn't it? Over half an hour?

The band calls it a demo, so I'm calling it a demo... That's basically my standpoint. However, they're re-releasing it with new artwork on pro CD, remixed/mastered and everything, so that will make it a proper release in my eyes...

Neat eh? Undoubtedly that russian guy's (ColdDarkNord on the forums) best work yet. I didn't really like his first stuff but this looks pretty fucking good from the thumbnail.

 

[Demilich]

And Dave said there might be bonus material on it!
And there will be new Against the Seasons shirts. Different ones.
And hopefully POS&AOE shirts as well. This time I shall get one before XL sells out My Large "I hope it's cold, everyday, where you are..." shirt is pretty fuckin small on me.

 

[MajestikMøøse]

hmmm, listening to this again, I think that it is better than what my initial impression of it was. Admittedly, there are some kind of "down" parts, such as the beginning of the second part of "the sun was in my eyes", "The Allure of the Earth" and "Shedding The Deadwood" are a little bit boring in the grand scheme of things, but are still decent songs. Then it picks up again at "Dragged Across a Forest Floor" and then eases into the ending over the next few tracks.

"The End Of August" really kicked me in the balls, and I think it was a great way to end the album. I think I'd give the album a 8.5/10 if I was the one assigning the number rating.