Woods of Ypres Grey Skies Electric Light Review
To be perfectly honest, taking on Woods 5: Grey Skies & Electrical Light was a bit of a daunting task. Not only were there the questions over Woods of Ypres founder David Gold's passing, simply there was as well the matter of trying to listen to the album independently of those tragic events. Some who had all-encompassing emotional attachment to Woods of Ypres were understandably reticent to approach the album critically, and then information technology fell to someone who had limited experience with the band but the utmost respect. Having spent just minimal time with the early works and enough with IV: The Green Anthology to know that I quite enjoyed it despite its swollen nature, I by and large used Woods 5 as a way to give the band one last real shot. What happened instead was much more than. I became entranced with a set of songs that dug deep nether my pare both musically and lyrically, which is a very rare occurrence. I also discovered the true talents of a man who left us long before his time; a man who undoubtedly saved his best for concluding while delivering an anthology that is sprawling, meticulously produced, and both incredibly vulnerable withal strangely empowering.
The offset few songs on Woods v show exactly how far Gilt had removed his songwriting from the band'due south black metal roots. While the cold still occasionally shows up in a guitar tone or riff, the prevailing tone is that of the melancholy rock/metallic that Katatonia, mid-period Paradise Lost, and even Sentenced perfected, with hefty doses of both doom and night metal at just the correct times. But several characteristics assistance to turn this final version of Woods of Ypres into really the side by side development of these influences. Starting time, the lyrical content is nothing brusque of masterful, and poetic plenty to exist gratuitous of any and all pretension despite taking on the depressive subject thing mutual for the mode. 2nd, these words are aided profoundly by Gilded'southward understated vocal commitment, and also through the loftier-low layering heard on the chorus of "Death Is Non An Leave" and throughout the album. This treatment not only provides a unique vibe, but also gives the cleans a sort of shimmering consequence that can exist quite intoxicating. Extra flourishes like strings and well-employed piano likewise help, just in the terminate it is Gilt'due south songwriting deftness that elevates these tracks. The build from piano break into a softer chorus and so subdued metal intensity in "Keeper of the Ledger" is one such example, but Woods 5 is chock full of these minor details, and listeners are continually rewarded long after information technology has become familiar.
Had Woods 5 continued in this vein it would already be a must-hear, merely 1 rails in the eye of the society changes everything: "Adora Vivos" is the very definition of an album linchpin. A heavy intro gives way to pulsating stone machinations before the exceptional chorus cashes in. The song's intensity and lyrical majesty – "Adora Vivos – Our people are civilized… Love the living while they're even so alive, Adora Vivos – Our people are civilized… we shouldn't worship the dead" – necktie everything that comes earlier and after, and permanently shifts ones perception of the entire album. The vocal'south placement also explains why some were pissed when they spent and then much time with the early promo only to observe out that the lodge was wrong—this anthology demands this exact alignment for the lyrics, melodies, and holistic dynamics to become far more than the sum of their glorious parts.
Afterwards "Adora Vivos," at that place is quite simply no going back. "Silver" is in the same general doom rock tone of earlier tracks, just information technology seems more barren, as if it is struggling for air later on the burnout that preceded it. The would-exist-Sentenced rocker "Career Suicide (Is Not Real Suicide)" is immediately taken in a much more serious tone than information technology would if it were independent of its environment (merely no less tricky). The depression-tempo "Modernistic Life Architecture" and "Kiss My Ashes (Farewell)" increase the extra doom factor while as well indulging in the band's oft-emphasized-but-exaggerated Type O Negative sound. However, it is the gorgeous pianoforte- and cord-driven balladry of "Certitude" and closer "Alternate Ending" that really feel as if they are still reflecting the album's one big surge, while further cementing the essential nature of the track order. More importantly, the closer ends things on a surprisingly uplifting annotation.
Upliftingis the key. In spite of lyrics that view expiry in a positive or at least inevitable light, this album somehow seems to exist more of a celebration of life than a damning of it — an exquisite and deeply personal reminder that even in the darkest of times there is hope. Woods 5 is a nigh masterpiece on both the musical and lyrical levels, and maybe the all-time album of this (very general) ilk since Concluding Fair Deal Gone Downward. Nearly importantly, Woods 5 is, without a doubt, the full realization of David Gilded's and Wood of Ypres'southward truthful potential, and instead of mourning what could have been, nosotros should feel privileged that he was able to deliver this elevation masterstroke before his untimely passing.
In Gold'south own words, we shouldn't worship the dead, but he never said anything most non honoring the fine art that has been left backside. And this is quite, quite the piece of art.
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Source: https://yourlastrites.com/2012/03/11/woods-of-ypres-woods-5-grey-skies-electric-light-review/
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