This week in Spotlight, I’ll only be reviewing two albums instead of the usual three. Why? Because one of these two albums is way longer than I expected it to be and I simply didn’t have the time to review three albums.
Make the jump to read my reviews of the latest Woods of Ypres and The Soulless albums.
Woods of Ypres – IV: The Green Album
First off, according to Metal Archives, this band is Melodic Black Metal and according to other sources, this is Suicidal Black Metal. As with most bands who are tagged as Suicidal Black Metal, it’s not really fair calling the band Black Metal. Suicidal or depressive, definitely, but this is a mixture of very melodic Doom Metal and all kinds of Extreme Metal. ‘The Green Album’ is as depressive as it gets lyrically and I got to admit that I’m fairly fond of that. I’ve always had a knack for songs who have the power to drag me down emotionally. The songs are overall pretty slow, but not too slow, and at times go into Black or Death Metal territory. The transitions from slower and softer parts to faster and heavier parts don’t sound forced but naturally fit, which is a huge plus. My personal highlight of the album is ‘By The Time You Read This (I Will Already Be Dead)’. All in all, I really enjoyed this album, as much as you can enjoy songs about suicide and loss.
http://www.myspace.com/woodsofypres
The Soulless – Isolated
‘Isolated’ is The Soulless’ first album under that name. They released an EP and an album under the name Ignominious Incarceration in 2008 and ’09 respectively. So, these British dudes play Melodic Death Metal and I like Melodic Death Metal but these guys are just a tad bit too melodic for me and rely too much on the same formula. Also, you can definitely hear lots of similarities to newer Killswitch Engage stuff, which, let’s be honest here, is not a good thing. In small doses, I can imagine they aren’t too bad, as I’ve also enjoyed one of their songs in my last edition of Spotlight. An whole album is just way too much for me though. I could have done with two songs but during the third song, I got bored and was tempted to just play the new Amon Amarth album. Now, that’s how you do Melodic Death Metal. I listened to the entire album though and almost fell asleep. More diversity, guys. I’m begging you.
http://www.myspace.com/wearethesoulless
That’s it. You want some last words from me? Umm… DOSE OF METAL FUCKING RULES! There, happy now?
