Search - In the Woods :: Strange In Stereo

Wandering in the woods...

Rui Firmino | Dublin, Ireland | 01/21/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A hauntingly beautiful, powerful release. In the Woods are one of those very few Metal bands which possess an artistic quality that transcends the barriers of the genre. Truly original and with no doubt one of the most artistic of all metal acts. The mood of this album is at once one of despair and lingering hope, both a lament and a celebration of joy. The vocals are flawless, clean and emotional, as beautiful as the abstract, elusive lyrics. The guitars are at times crushingly heavy and erratic,or progressive and building up into unbearably intense and emotional melodies.This album is (like any In the Woods release) a must have for anyone seriously into music. Fans often say this is one of their weakest albums, which I strongly disagree. It does not have the epic feel of the mighty Omnio, but that isn't necessarily bad. The melodies and lyrics are among the finest ever written. Ever! Have no doubts, get this! Best listened to in a warm Summer evening, beer in hand and maybe a cigarette, while the golden twilight lights fires of memories of previous, happier times."

Hauntingly beautiful, A MASTERPIECE

M Flamman | Breda, the Netherlands | 03/03/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"...I see that two ITW's works are already reviewed here. Good work!
For it is this band I like most (and I like quite a fwe metalbands). I get more moved listening to this band's music than to every other band. This is, for complete outsiders, a little comparable with atmospheric bands like Tiamat, The Gathering or My Dying Bride. But that's not all! This band experiments with the whole progrock- and gothicspectrum, putting Floydish elements in it, intelligent lyrics, a little opera-singing, classical elements, but all is interwoven so perfectly that you just hear...In The Woods. Frankly, there just isn't a band in this world who sounds like ITW. All the songs on this fit perfectly in each other, but are still a complete experience on it's own. Every songs gives me the creeps, the tension is rising every minute (this band's hobby is to build up every song in such a manner that the tension is rising when the end of the song is nearing, before it explodes, and the next song begins, again slowly and sofly...), the singing is emotional (never heared a man sing so emotional as in the sixth song of this cd), everuthing about this cd is perfect. It is certainly not for people who can't appreciate experimental, progressive music, but I think everyoen in the doom,-gothic- or avantgardemetal spectrum should at least listen to this album. And if you do that, listen to it at least three times, for only after some listenings you really can experience this masterpiece. For people who don't know anything about metal: the music sounds also a bit like the band SIGUR ROS, a progressive rockband from Iceland. Also metalfans would like that band. Finally: listen to Omnio as well (really epical) and try their newest and last album Three Times Seven On A Pilgrim Age (with their cover-trilogy and some new and great songs). The only thing we can do is to listen to this band's music, because the band has quit one year ago. Too bad!"

Sweat mingled with water

Mordchi Levy | Jerusalem, Israel Israel | 07/11/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a voracious creation. its utter sense of alienation and strangeness indeed, lie in its monstrosity. this is the sound of a painful transformation, an illustration of corruption and disillusionment. While Omnio was marked by a decided invocation to the the forces of nature, conjuring both a ritualistic and sensual dimensions, this is urban at heart. locale: fin de ciecle Paris. The psychedelic stylings, which in the last album served as a metaphor for the forces of nature( both mental and wordly) has now given way to an assured modern tendancy. modern man in its "explorations" of foreign cultures used mostly techniques of imitation and assimilation, consequently, many eastern and mediterrenian flourishes and melodies were used. most of them convincingly exotic and menacing. but this is not only a transformation of sound and sensation but also of character. the jovial, deeply spirited man of yonder, that inhabited Omnio with his murmurings and tragic meditations of nature, primal cause and destiniy stepped down from the dais to give birth to a decadent: fully immerssed in the pleasures of the flesh, sinful and remorseful, decidedly unhistorical and criminally devoid of any inner sense of freedom or spirituality.
while this may sound utterly despairing it is in the vain of Baudelaire and Rimbaud that this anguish is enunciated and glorified."