WoY now on garageband.com:

[David Gold]

"Distractions":

hey!
i don't think this is the first song i've reviewed from you.

once again, sounding VERY doomy and My Dying Bride influence.

good song, really sad sounding, played well. i really like the change at 3:00. the growled vocals are killer! and the tempo change is nice. the whole song is good.

i like it. good job.
- jtgilmore13
Salem, Oregon

 

[David Gold]

"Thrill..."

Signature Review Fucking Epic!
I knew i'd like this song at 30 seconds. This is definitely the best song i've heard today, by FAR!

The layers and layers in the verses are fantastic! The guitar riffs are phenominal, and the drumming is right on. The vocals are executed perfectly.

Melody-wise, the chorus is really good. But the part that stands out to me the most is the melody in the guitar and synth that i'm hearing. I love it. I love this song haha.

playlisted...

5/5...

ROCK ON!
Reviewed by: jtgilmore13 from Salem, Oregon

goodbye intro, hello madness
Intense song, great drum & guitar work . vocals are solid, well delivered.
I don't love the clean vocals, but they work well within this song



- DTRFTP
Burlington, Ontario, Canada
February 16th, 2008

Brutal
Nice light intro contrasted with pure metal!! Love the energy. Very melodic and brutal. Very good band!!!

Extra Credit: Drums, Mood.



- IMPERTHEAN
Cleveland, Ohio
February 15th, 2008

full on dark atmosphere
Great production here. This has a big sound so have done well to get everything well defined on the mix. Vocals take the growl approach on all verses, needs work on the melody for chorus, out of key.
Drummer is carrying this track an awful lot, constant double pedal sounds good on this adding large epic atmosphere and wicked blast beats continuous, he must get knackered.
Not my kind of metal but well executed.

Extra Credit: Drums, Production.



- Ellsy
February 15th, 2008

If by "knackered" he means "tanked on beers", yes I do! Great observations!

"Thrill..." now has a 5.0 / 5.0 rating on Garageband! That's it, we've sold out!

 

[David Gold]

More "Thrill..."

intense metal
the intro made me think i was getting some rock song until the song actually kicked in. brutal yet melodic!
- System_86
Burlington, Ontario, Canada

+ These:

Best Male Vocals in Metal, week of 11Feb2008
Best Keyboards in Metal, week of 18Feb2008
Best Lyrics in Metal, week of 11Feb2008
Best Lyrics in Metal, week of 18Feb2008
Best Mood in Metal, week of 11Feb2008
Best Mood in Metal, week of 18Feb2008
Rocking Track in Metal, week of 11Feb2008

+ If you look through all the reviews, you'll see more dudes saying how the clean vocals remind them of FEAR FACTORY. I never would have thought, but numerous people are hearing this and making the comparison! + Garageband, is all dudes. I wouldn't think there would be even one chick on there doing reviews. Anyways...

 

[David Gold]

More "Thrill..."

eavy, dark sound.
Sweet arpeggio opening suddenly stepped on like a bug with heavy, powerful, intense metal chords -- just as planned, and it works, caught me by surprise. Passionate singing and playing. Solid musicianship. Very heavy sound, dark and passionate.
- JamesWHarris
No Where, Georgia

Now I'm pissed
and don't know why, I love it. Great riffs, very good use of different vocal styles, Kind of a dark tone/mood. Band performs well togther. Good thick heavy sound to go with the mood of this soung.Outro is definatly different, I like it a lot.
- EvilStang
Tonawanda, New York

Nice Intro
i really liked the intro clean riff.. I didn't expect it to hit so heavy which was cool but i think the drums get too repetative and lack dimension when you play that fast.
- jeffgalland
Redondo Beach, California

some heavy shit
I like the mood of it, and the vocals are cool.
The guitars are hard to make out in the verses, but the synth in the background keeps it solid.
Your drummers definitley pretty hardcore to be able to keep up that double bass pedal for the entire six minutes.
- etal5
Chattanooga, Tennessee

Bathoraaaaaaaaaaghhhhhh
Ok thats gotta be the most boring and overused black metal intro in existence. Ok, I dig this genre of metal for sure, and this song definately gets a bit more engaging as it goes on. Its not bad for what it is.. Something to play when your fish dies I guess.
- UTA

+

Hello woodsofypres
Thanks for uploading "Thrill of the Struggle" to GarageBand.com. Congratulations are in order! Your song did a bang up job in Round 1 of the Active Contest,and held its own against some stiff competition. It's been reviewed by folks all over the world, been subjected to raw, unfiltered scrutiny from people you don't even know...and guess what?.... They liked it! The blood, sweat and tears have paid off.

Your song made it to the upper echelon of its genre, and will now move on to the next level to battle it out with its peers in Round 2. Songs in Round 2 will move through an entirely new review cycle, to be reviewed and ranked against the other top songs in their genre. We'll measure your new ranking based on a combination of this new data and the old data. When the dust settles, those left standing at the top of the charts will get a shot at moving on to Round 3 and be one step closer to getting played on Yahoo! Launch radio.

If you have any questions about the review process, please check out the updated Review Process FAQ.

"Thrill of the Struggle" finished at # 133 in Metal.

In addition to moving up on our active charts, "Thrill of the Struggle" will still remain available in our All-time charts and you can continue to monitor its status on your Song Profile page.

Thanks for your support.

Rock on,
Ivy,
Band Services
GarageBand.com

"When the dust settles, those left standing at the top of the charts will get a shot at moving on to Round 3 and be one step closer to getting played on Yahoo! Launch radio."

WoY on Yahoo! Launch radio, eh? Damn.

 

[phantomfreak]

Good Luck in the second round. It would be pretty damn cool to hear Woods on Yahoo Radio.

 

[David Gold]

solid black metal
very nice! this is some great black metal. i will say that its not the most original sounding, but the production is solid, its heavy as fk, the mood is dark and cold, and i really dig the clean vocals..please keep it up, so many bands just do the screaming, they forget about melody...ok, this song is growing on me, its really good...i'd buy your cd

- AnacreonMusic
Los Angeles, California

burn the churches
black metal heavy as sin with cool backup vocals worship the goat and wear black forever

- inkaduelbee

Haha, so funny. It doesn't matter what the song is about or what the lyrics say, some people hear blasts and certains riffs and they say "Yeah, yeah, wearing black, goats and burning churches".

 

[David Gold]

+ It's also cool to note:

1) "Thrill..." is the only WoY song to ever advance to "Round 2" at Garageband ("Ontario Town" came close with a score near the high 4s but the somehow fell drastically at the end with a couple last very low scores...still trying to figure out the math on that one)

2) Many people comment that "Thrill" is not the most original sounding (granted) but it's the one WoY song that keeps getting consistantly high scores and positive comments from nearly everyone who reviews it. Hmmmm...

3) "Thrill" was considered by the band to be a 'sleeper' (unlikely favourite) amongst the rest of the songs on W3 when going into the recording, it just so happened to turn out well and does justice in representing the "pure essence" of WoY in sound and content, though yes, without closer inspection it might seem rather 'traditional' in some ways.

"Thrill of the Struggle" now standing with a 4.9/5 score, in round two at Garageband.

 

[David Gold]

More "Thrill..."

2
Ohh, I like it right off the bat. The song catches my interest immediately, and then keeps me pulled in. The mood is dark, yet very ominous, I like it. The song continues without a missed beat, nice combo of vokil work. the end of the song has a very nice fade away.
- KILL_DARRAD
Harbor Beach, Michigan

Dark and Heavy
Definitely sounds as if they are out to destroy people. Very Dimmu Borgir. Very dark and vampirick
- blackeyedbetty
Columbus, Ohio

Though now the score has fallen from 4.9/5 to 3.5. Hmmm.... ???

 

[David Gold]

More "Thrill...":

metal
excellent! Epic! this song has a great drive. not to sure of the clean vocals(not my thing) although they were well done too.
but the wrasps are very agressive.
cheers guys. production is great.

- wred_devil
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

+ Lots of metal dudes from Hamilton (home of the Nuclear Blast band: Threat Signal) seem to be reviewing metal on garageband.

 

[David Gold]

More "Thrill..."

Brutal
Everything about this is brutal, which I'm sure is what they were going for! Very fast drum work, must have been some workout to keep that up for 6 and a half minutes. I think it's funny that they are requesting comments on melody, when there's not a lot to speak of, although the sung vocal parts are fairly melodic.

- HoneyThick
Keyport, New Jersey

intro
I like this intro . Very smooth.. I like the shock value of the screams about 15 sec. in..I think the guitar has great tone..VOCALS ARE STRONG..

- buzzn2005

Nice guitar tone
I like the clean guitar in the beginning...adds dynamics and makes the heavy guitar sound heavier. Vocals are good as well. Overall good song..

- Krusifire
Allentown, Pennsylvania

+

Track of the Day on 1Mar2008 in Metal
Best Male Vocals in Metal, week of 11Feb2008
Best Keyboards in Metal, week of 18Feb2008
Best Lyrics in Metal, week of 11Feb2008
Best Lyrics in Metal, week of 18Feb2008
Best Mood in Metal, week of 11Feb2008
Best Mood in Metal, week of 18Feb2008
Rocking Track in Metal, week of 11Feb2008

Dear David,
Congratulations! As a result of some very enthusiastic reviews from GarageBand.com members, "Thrill of the Struggle" will be Track of the Day at GarageBand.com.

For 24 hours on Saturday, the 1st of March, 2008 (PST) "Thrill of the Struggle" will be featured on GarageBand.com's Metal front page. The address for this page will be:

http://www.GarageBand.com/go/09W6UYLZFL

 

[Dauden]

N-ice! You have officially conquered that site, haha

 

[David Gold]

epitome of metal
Is this going for an operatic kind of vibe....the vocals are pretty good, you can understand what he's saying.....music is pretty tight...you can tell the musicianship is ther..song is a little long for me but good all around....

- Adapt
Salt Lake City, Utah

Al Jourgensen
Cool intro. Production is decent.
Vocals remind me of Ministry, which is a good thing. Band is tight.

- wizardeye
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Metal for the masses!!!
Although your sound is not necessarily my cup of tea, you are definitely skilled at what you do. Music is seems very well rehearsed and your drummer is a madman!! Sounds like he drank 90 redbulls and took out some aggression on his kit!!!! Great stuff guys! Up the irons!!!!!!!!!!

- CrashAura
El Segundo, California

Dark and Foreboding
The band asked for melody and mood and the mood is dark and foreboding is as if there is a hunt in progress. The drummer is fantastic. The guitar is good too. Your outro sets the stage for the meaning of the song and finishes the tension of the "hunt" as if it has been successful.

- shaunorris
Denver, Colorado

Grindcore.
Ok this is not my cop of tea but it is well played and production is ok.

- berglid

 

[chrisdoig24k]

epitome of metal! Nice!

 

[David Gold]

More "Thrill..."

very well written
this song is very well written. reminds me of a past relationship. the mood explains how was done wrong. the melody is very dark and gloomy. love it.

- 10power
White Hall, Maryland

Just not my thing
I sometimes like this kind of music but in this instance I cannot get over the feeling that I have heard this type of music done before and done better. You are all very talented but I am never, at any point through the song, able to shake that "been there, heard that" feeling. I like double bass drumming as much as the next guy but the drummer for this band(again they are talented) seems like he would be half the drummer if he didn't have double bass. I mean there is nothing but the same double bass beat throughout the entire song. I think if the song was more interesting then this wouldn't be as noticable. If I were you all I would use your talent to craft some more unique and less repetive music.

- Gagreflex
Houston, Texas


How helpful was this review?
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strong icy winds
Pretty good, like Bathory's Nordlands meeting Nokturnal Mortum. Like Bathory, I don't hear symptoms of a great budget, perfect musicianship, perfect vocals, or perfect production.. but to be honest, this kind of music can get away with it, because if everything were perfect it wouldn't have that live feeling and it would seem too crisp and need more complex composition.. this is different for instance than as with Nokturnal Mortum's album Weltanschauung which is realy finely polished.

In my opinion I can't take points away for any of this, any more than I can rate the best mainstream song poorly just because it's mainstream - it's a niche, a genre. This is a really good song, good lyrics, great emotionally potent melody, sets up a mood of warriors in an ancient pagan village who respect the gods but aren't bound by them, in sort of a love-hate relationship like sailors respecting the treacherous ocean for its power. The outro was good, sometimes that kind of outro can just get too slow and boring, but the hooks sound really novel and fresh and when repeated they are developed more, so it works. In the metal underground, perfection lies in the realness. Five blistering stars!

- Transcix
Montreal, Canada

Five blistering stars, he says!

 

[chrisdoig24k]

The middle one may be negative, but at least it's not just 'GHEY' or anything like that!

 

[David Gold]

"Thrill of the Struggle"

Saturday March 1st 'Track of the Day' at garageband.com and all of that...

http://www.garageband.com/genre/metal

 

[David Gold]

More "Thrill..."s:

Sweet Yolk To This Egg...
Nice rich clean tone and style for the intro then killer at about :20. Nice job! Drums are killing it and tearing it up! Voice is pretty unique as well...great track!

- SuitsandTies
Joplin, Missouri

 

[David Gold]

Here's a couple good ones:

Powerful
Hot mix. Vocals are mixed a little too low for me. Production sounds a bit muddy. Drums sound flat with not a lot of attack. Chorus has a good hook.
- itis123
Menifee, California

screamo
i don't know what it is with the scremo lyrics and double bass, so 1980 i don't get it
- greggfry1
Cape Saint Clair, Maryland

How helpful was this review?
1 2 3
1 = Least helpful, 3 = Most helpful

Extra points for originality: No.

Does this review clearly violate GarageBand.com policy? "No, but there was neither 'screamo' or double bass in 1980. I fucking was born in 1980. DG."

 

[zekeyou]

Well, a couple of Priest songs had double bass, but...

That guys comments are about as far-fetched as they come.

 

[David Gold]

Drummer will need a calf massage
Nice trick, asking for comments on outro to force me to listen to it all lol
Luckily Im impressed from the start so that wont be too much of a problem.
Nice layered sound to this song. Production reminds me a bit of SYL due to the keyboards adding to the wall of sound mixing style.
Very dramatic mood to this tune which I like.
The guitars seem really good if a little lost in the mix. The Drums are pretty sweet. Guy works his double bass pedals like some kind of human taz.
Singer is great when he screams. His clean singing in the chorus is competent but in my opinion could be a bit better as they fall flat in comparrison to his shoutier vocals.
Good melody in this tune with some nice hooks in it.
This has the potential to be a great song if the clean vocals are replaced or significantly improved and the guitars are pushed out in the mix a tiny bit.
It drags on a tiny bit towards the end and could do with a tiny edit to keep it focused and more grabbing. Its not that the outro is bad. It just comes too late...would be better as a mid section then the song could end as an all out riff/double bass fest. As it is the intro falls flat a bit after the onslaught and ferocity of the rest of teh song before it.
Good job though with some great musicianship.

- angryk10

death
clean guitars are a little low. when it kicks in, it sounds like theres too much going on. boost the guitars a little bit. vocals are alright, but kinda generic. too much low end in the mix. drowns out the guitars and keys that i think i might hear?

band is tight and does well what they set out to do. not much of a hook, and structure is a little basic. vary things up here and there

- 2SeVeR
Reynoldsville, Pennsylvania