Woods of Desolation – As the Stars

February 14, 2014 • Northern Silence Productions

I love Woods of Desolation's 2011 album Torn Beyond Reason; it's without question a black metal favorite of mine. As followups to fantastic albums usually go, I'm always prepared for disappointment, but fortunately that wasn't the case with As the Stars. While it's not quite up to their standards, it's still a worthy entry to their discography and a fine black metal record in its own right.

Arrangement-wise, the album draws on the many of the same stock formulas on their last album (and those of their contemporaries in the atmospheric black metal scene): dense walls of guitar, clean (and even twinkly) melodic passages, a taste for slower chugging sections. There isn't quite as much blasting here (I think) but the heavy guitar and tortured vocals keep things nice and dark. Interestingly, the songs are on the short side (mostly between four and six minutes), leaving the usual sprawling structures of the genre (and, to an extent, their last album) behind in favor of more fast-paced song progression (although still with a bit of excessive repetition). The riffing is that melancholic, depressive-yet-hopeful style that reminds me of early Alcest and the like, which they've done before and still works fine here. (Let's just hope they don't fall into the same sort of style dilution.)

The album's most noticeable flaw is a major one, though: the mixing. It leaves a lot to be desired as most of the album is absolutely drowning in that dense wall of guitar I mentioned, which has been distorted into a thick, piercing haze that leaves little room for the drums or vocals to pop out. I can see how they might have been going for a more wall-of-sound-like approach with this, as it would mesh with the dense approach to the songwriting, but it's bad enough to the point where it actually detracts from the experience more than just a little bit.

And that's unfortunate, because aside from that there really isn't much to complain about with this album. Yes, it's a bit formulaic and they're definitely not pushing the genre anywhere new, and As the Stars isn't on the same level as Torn Beyond Reason, an album I still listen to and enjoy now and again. But it's still good for a few spins.