### Woods Of Ypres: Woods III (deepest roots and darkest blue)

#### 21/01/08 || Euthanatos

Woods of Ypres, whatever that means, sounds very Scandinavian. Except they’re Canadian. What, to some extent, makes sense…You know, cold, northern, forests etc. Clear-cut influences here are bands like Agalloch, Falkenbach, Arcturus, Vintersorg… his band is somewhere along those lines. Minus the talent, obviously.

There are good things on this album. Musically it’s not mediocre, some good ideas thrown in, shitty, shitty vocals (the growls, the “singing” is pretty good), terrible production, lack of song structure… Ah, who am I kidding, this sucks. I actually tried to like this, God knows why. Maybe it’s because I miss something refreshing in the whole pagan/epic metal genre. But the truth is Woods of Ypres just isn’t that interesting. The sound is just like the band’s name. You think it’s kinda cool, but when you think about it, you have no idea what’s going on.

These guys also have a great talent… They make 3 to 4 minute songs sound like an eternity. So yeah, I’m going to go ahead and say, get some fucking structure in your songs already. You’re all over the place. Settle down, Nancy.

I like some tracks here, like I said, it’s not entirely mediocre; “Through Chaos and Solitude I Came” is a good track that features the more pagan/epic/whatever feel that I dig, using mostly the decent “clean“vocals. I don’t know what he means by “I Came”, though. You’ll have to figure that one out for yourself. “Years of Silence (Generic Subtitle)” is also one of the better moments. More clean singing. I sense a pattern here. Here’s an idea… How about we scratch the growls? I know you learned in Norse metal school that it’s mandatory, but really, it isn’t. Do your own thing, it’ll be better for everyone. I love their titles, though… “Your Ontario Town is a Burial Ground”. That’s just peachy. Meh, I’d much rather wait for the new TYR, thank you.

The cover: Epic pagan viking stuff. Whoopee. I’m not impressed.

4 bored out of my mind out of 10.

- Information
- Released: 2008
- Label: Krankenhaus Records
- Website: www.woodsofypres.ca
- Band
- David Grohl… I mean, Gold: vocals, guitar, recorded drums
- Shawn Stoneman: guitar
- Dan Hulse: bass, vocals
- Chris Mezz: drums
- Jessica Rose: keyboards

- Tracklist
- 01. The Northern Cold
- 02. Iron Grudge
- 03. Your Ontario Town is a Burial Ground
- 04. Through Chaos and Solitude I Came…
- 05. Years of Silence (and the Private Joke)
- 06. Distractions of Living Alone
- 07. Deepest Roots: Belief that All is Lost
- 08. Darkest Blues: Relief that Nothing Can be Done
- 09. Thrill of the Struggle
- 10. December in Windsor
- 11. Trillium: The Third of Three Winters 2004-2007
- 12. Song of Redemption
- 13. End of Tradition
- 14. To Lock Eyes with a Wild Beast
- 15. Mistakes Artists Make (The Dream is Dead)