Note as well that this will be our last review of a Woods of Ypres studio album (as we've already reviewed the other 4), but we should begin reviewing their singles & compilations next year. With 15 songs clocking in at over 72 minutes of music, this could be a long one, so let's begin with the opening track!
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Second on the CD is "Iron Grudge", which starts off in very heavy fashion with very fast and brutal black metal riffing and drumming, and it shows Woods of Ypres in very brutal fashion with some welcome orchestral elements thrown in! Lyrically referring to holding an "iron grudge" against an unnamed opposer, this song feels like something that might have been on "Against the Seasons" had David been the band's frontman at the time, judging by it's extra melody and shorter length, and as it's a straightforward black metal song, there's no clean vocals to be found. That said, "Iron Grudge" does feel repetitive after a while, and a guitar solo or a softer section would have helped to break it up. As well, the vocals are a bit too quiet, but this is an effectively brutal black metal song that fans of Woods of Ypres' early output should eat up!
Fourth on "The Deepest Roots..." is "Through Chaos & Solitude I Came...", another heavy black metal number that does hint in atmosphere and clean vocals to their later doom material! Lyrically alluding to life on the road and David's connection to black metal & the north, this feels more like what "Iron Grudge" should have with a more broken up and melodic take on black metal, and the band are firing on most cylinders here! David's singing & drumming are as good as you'd expect at this point, and Dan's bass work is heavy and low to go with everything, and my only real musical quibble (guitar solos aside) is that Jessica should have been a bit louder here. Still, this is one of the early highlights on "Woods III", and it blends Woods of Ypres' old & new styles really well!
The seventh & eighth songs are "Deepest Roots: The Belief That All Is Lost" & "Darkest Blues: The Relief That Nothing Can Be Done", which are essentially one long 7 minute track about mortality & how life would exist without you, with other intriguing northern elements. Despite being broken in two parts, like the opening songs on "Against the Seasons", I think it'd be best to review them as one complete song. Abruptly beginning with black metal vocals and a slow swinging melody, the pace slowly builds to a soft clean section that seems too timid for the genre, before reverting to the earlier feel. The "Deepest Roots" section, barely 2:12 in length, doesn't stand on it's own well as more than an intro, but things pick up greatly in the "Darkest Blues" portion, unleashing into a black metal fury with plenty of aggression and great bass work and blasting drums! The choruses are really catchy, and Jessica's keyboard parts really add to the atmosphere of "Darkest Blues", including a solo-ish section late, which I welcome! The last 40 seconds or so take on a dirge-like doomy quality, which add a nice ending to this 7 minute epic, which covered a lot of ground! You guys are best served to listen to these tracks together, but split up, "Deepest Roots" doesn't stand on it's own compared to "Darkest Blues" and it's brutal intensity.
The eleventh track is "Trillium: The Third of Three Winters, 2004-2007", which is notable as the only recorded instrumental by Woods of Ypres for one of their album releases! A slower black metal instrumental (until the last minute), it has many swings in mood and heaviness, and it's full of great guitar riffing and soft keyboard backing, along with solid drumming and pounding bass, but it feels like a song that was intended to have vocals at one point before being removed from the final product. Still, "Trillium" is an effective instrumental that Woods of Ypres fans should readily enjoy, especially if you loved their early output! That's followed by "Song of Redemption", another ballad-esque original which is themed around an older man trying to redeem himself for past mistakes by playing a song from his youth. Like "December in Windsor", it has a laid back style without getting depressing, yet it's lyrics have a serious vibe of reflection, but unlike that song, there's more metal influences & piano audibility, with the latter half of the song building more and more while maintaining the soft feel. It's my favourite of the softer songs on "Woods III" for it's diversity and length, but if you crave harsh vocals, the drought for that continues here.
Finally on "Woods III" is "Mistakes Artists Make (The Dream Is Dead)", a seeming indictment on making it in the music industry and the errors and setbacks along the way. Opening very heavily with nice orchestral keyboard work and a black metal fury. The black metal parts are great and fit the moods of earlier songs, but with better keyboard parts (or at least louder ones), but the clean vocals sound somewhat tired again. It's odd that the album ends on such a critical note relating to the music industry, but "Mistakes Artists Make" has the requisite fury and moods to match up with earlier songs, and the soft outro helps end this album on a warm & well performed note!
That all said, there are things I'd change despite my enjoyment of "Woods III". The clean singing definitely seemed to wear out and get tired late in the album, while some of the mixes left some instruments buried amongst the other performers (especially the keyboard early on.) Largest of all to me was the lack of guitar solos, which weren't on Woods of Ypres' prior 2 albums either, but they'd have helped to put this album even further up the ladder than it is. Knowing the solos that Bryan Belleau & Joel Violette supplied on their last 2 CDs, it's fun to speculate how they'd have added to or changed the "W3" material had they played guitar solos on them. Still, this is by far my favourite Woods CD, and reflecting back on it now, it does serve as somewhat of a transitional release between the band's Southern Ontario black metal era & their Northern Ontario doom metal era. It's disappointing that this album wasn't well represented at future Woods concerts (I think only 4 songs on the CD were played live), but hopefully it and Woods of Ypres' other studio albums continue to live on in the metal community for a long time to come, and hopefully somewhere, David knows how loved and respected Woods of Ypres remain to this day!
I hope you guys liked this month's CD review at the SMS! So, what's coming up next week? I'm not sure, but of course, a new release will gain precedence. For new albums, "Dragon Joy Ride" by Haggith has been gaining the most buzz in recent weeks in terms of an imminent release, but I've heard talk from acts like The Hubbard-Menard Band across the river too, not to mention the various albums from our monthly "Where Are The New Albums?" series, so who knows what's on the horizon? If nothing new comes out by Halloween, we'll dip into the archives, but for what album? I'm leaning towards "Let The Hammers Fly" (pictured), the initial 2008 demo by defunct local hardcore quartet Detroit, as their drummer is playing in town at the end of the month (more on that in a future news post.) Things would change if something new comes out, so stay tuned to the SMS for any possible updates on our next CD review as they come in, and stay tuned for more news and notes shortly! Thanks everyone!