Toward the Depths

Entering into the fray next is a collaboration between an Australia, who’s multi-dimensional influence on this band, named Woods of Desolation, is unparalleled and an Englishman, assumedly, who’s take on the raw sub-genre of black metal, in the past, has left me dumbfounded. My only previous experience with these two musicians is with the British entity, Emit, who’s chaotic and deservedly named raw style was brash, explosive and most of all, inaccessible. In the general sense of the word, I’m a huge fan of black metal. I have been since I started listening to metal many moons ago and still am, to this day. However, there are certain sections of black metal that I find hard to stomach - raw black metal being one of them. As I’ve heard the Emit full-length, which was shamelessly inaccessible for reasons unknown, I entered into this abyss with a degree of apprehension. Thankfully however, this apprehension was to be consumed by the hungry devil that is the desire of the band to portray a much more accessible style of raw black metal which could even appeal to novices in this sub-genre like me.

There are however, a number of differences between this and the associated band Emit, who’s chaotic branch of music failed to breech my pleasure barriers which remained in tact like the best flood defence system in the world. Emit were a slow stream high up in the mountain tops, left largely undiscovered by obscurity, in comparison to this full-flowing, raging river who’s boughs stretch out into the eternity, picking up people all along the way with its fast currents and recruiting them as fans with its emotional tidings. Wave after wave ‘Toward The Depths’, the debut full-length, hit’s the listener repeatedly in the face with such force one would think they’re being handed their ass on a plate by the devil himself. This intolerant record, surprisingly, leans more towards other style of black metal, than it does towards the raw sub-genre that it proclaims to adhere to. Once again, the description of “depressive black metal” has reared its head and branded Woods of Desolation, who’s name fits perfectly onto the list of depressive bands, with a hot poker stick. This will instantly turn some people off, leading them to assume this is another typical band, within another stereotypical sub-genre which is ruled by untalented masses of the worlds most naïve and youthful males. Typically, this area of black metal has become riddled with bands who’s appeal is limited to the bedroom, rather than a worldwide scale.

I hate to point fingers, but bands like Ancestral and Wedard have been singled out for their shameless self-promotion and dwindling bedroom style which sees a lack of creativity and inaccessible production values tear their prospective positive opinion of the formerly enthused listener to pieces and the listener himself down to a shadow of him, or her former self. Enthusiasm has never had much of a home here, in this depressive world, but its something a lot of us experience upon entering into a seemingly faultless setting where, surely, the band can do no wrong. The sub-genre began so brightly in its dark tales of woe. The opinion of the founders is still a much coveted discussion, but besides debates on who exactly started what and when, the majority of people rise as one to express their shared beliefs that this genre once had a stable background, an upbringing that was moving steadily in the right direction, but now, all that is left, is decay and rot. In this modern day world, it would seem that a band has to offer something diverse to the sub-genre in order to be deemed worthy of inclusion into the hall of the fame. Being a direct “clone” will not bring success like it did to bands like Trivium because this is an area that is considered off-limits to the general public and savoured only for those manic enough to search for it.

However, being the facetious bunch that we are, we expect miracles and even when bands do offer diversity by the shed load, we want more. Bands like the recently immerging Pensées Nocturnes are precisely what I mean by this. Here is a band who fuses classical with depressive black metal and still, its considered “too out there” for the tastes of most. We don’t want clones and we don’t want diversity, so what do we fickle bunch want? Straight edged depressive black metal? No thrills, just good old repetition and emotion intertwined with atmosphere? Well, here we have it. Woods of Desolation aren’t the perfect example of such music, but like fellow Australian band Austere, they’re certainly moving in the right direction as far as the future is concerned. This two piece band is often monotonous and repetitive, but with it comes a convoluted style that sees emotional complexities flow out of the sparse acoustics and audible bass segments that prophesise a coming apocalypse that we should all have expected and that we should all fear. The outro is a good example of such with a fixation of complex moods and dark tones as the bass and acoustics flow simultaneously. This is where diversity breeches the ordinary as Woods of Desolation like to mix things up from time to time by intricately fusing modern day techniques (experimentation) with olden day formulas (repetition). When I think of this band, my mind rushes back a few thousand miles to the Czech Republic and to the delightful melancholy of Trist.

The two have a number of similarities and neither really abides by the raw sub-genre that one of them, at least, is supposedly meant to do. Understandably, the raw tag is given because of those whirlwind guitars, who’s blasphemous impact is fast paced and striking, but it doesn’t really live up to its raw description. I find the guitars to fit more tightly into the depressive side of things, whilst leaning slightly towards ambient in the emotive atmospheres that work alongside the instrumentation within the largely formulaic soundscapes. The title track is a good representation of what to expect from this band. The collaboration between the bass and the guitars is definitely a sign that this band is more suited to the depressive style, than the raw. Slow moving bass sections alongside faster tremolo guitars segments, with the mid-paced percussion placed subtly into the middle. Songs like this, even with the vocal depiction that reminds me of the obscure, but ever-so-talented Life Is Pain, who’re unfortunately defunct now, point us onto possible roads of influence. As we pick up and shift through the gears, we’re taken to the debut by Austere, Trist epics like ‘Zrcadlení Melancholie’ and other notables bands such as Eindig and Vorkuta. Although this doesn’t live up to the brutality and honesty of the emotionally driven ‘Zrcadlení Melancholie’, it is a decent effort within this dilapidated field.