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Whoa, this is one amazing album. In The Wood's progression from their debut, "Heart Of The Ages" (1995) is startling, and seen in full flight on "Omnio". The growls and shrieks are gone, replaced by confident, albeit somewhat shaky, male vocals. All things considered they fit the music perfectly, and are assisted by a lovely female voice that also appears throughout. Now, the music itself... epic is the word that springs to mind. Starting with the near to 15 minute 299 795 km/s, the album weaves its majestic spell from the very start, as evident from the cello / violin intro. The first song itself is a diverse one, at first building in power with distortion, giving way to a soft cello interlude, followed by clean guitar and smooth vocals, leading to heavy drums and slowly intensifying riffs... it gives an indication of how epic and diverse the album is itself. "I Am Your Flesh" follows a similar template, starting intensely and changing to echoey guitars that recall Pink Floyd, and a very heavy ending segment with crunchy, powerful drumming and guitar harmonies. "Kairos", a shorter song, also takes a leaf from Floyd's book, sounding exactly how PF would sound if they played metal. Another case in point - the 'pre' section of the epic title track "Omnio", in which weird synths build to a trippy section of wavy, alien sounding guitars. As cliche as the comparison is these days, no other metal band I've encountered seem as, well, Pink Floyd influenced as In The Woods. The album weaves an atmosphere of darkness and despair without once resorting to brutality, opting instead for strength of melody and the occasional burst of distortion. The entire album is shot through with majestic melodies, great vocal harmonies (the male ones can get a bit grating so I tacked off .5), solid drumming and great song-writing. It's a testament to In the Woods that they can spread their art over such a broad canvas yet it never once feels stretched, or too ambitious for its own good. Highly recommended to just about anyone... this is truly stately, dark, artistic music perfect for a stroll through a haunted forest at midnight... Highlights: ALL of "299 796 km/s", the sharp catchiness of "Kairos" and the awesome melodies of "Weeping Willow".
| Tracklist |
| 1. 299 796 km/s |
| 2. I Am Your Flesh |
| 3. Kairos! |
| 4. Weeping Willow |
| 5. Omnio? |
| - pre |
| - bardo |
| - post |
: 63.13
| Buy other In The Woods... albums |
