Artist: Woe
Album: Quietly, Undramatically
Type: Album
Label: Candlelight

Another band that have been scooped up by Candelight’s deep-trawl net of the black metal underground, this US-based collective seem to have sprung out of nowhere. Proffering a more modernised approach to black metal than the more ‘en vogue’ paganistic approach, Woe nevertheless spice up their rugged backbone with the occasional post-metal touch and brief bust of glimmering atmospherics. By and large though, ‘Quietly, Undramatically’ is a straight-ahead workout of sweeping, guitar-driven black metal that reeks of countrymen Nachtmystium’s ‘Instinct-Decay’ album, even to the point of the dry, shrieking vocals that lurk murkily beneath the riffs like morning mists wreathing mountains.

Woe can cook up a decent tune or two, that is for sure. The instrumental ‘No Solitude’ leading into ‘The Road from Recovery’ is an impressive opening salvo, the push-and-pull of the varied riffing lending the material an underlying dynamic appeal which never detracts from the overall ambience of despondent melancholy that laces the songs. It has to be noted that the post-metal influence that crops up leans more towards the Hardcore end of the spectrum and there are moments that even smack of the dreaded – gulp – emo (the multilayered clean vocals in the title track for example being a case in point). The more ‘navel-gazey’ element of the band clearly extends to the album title, though I guess it could also be interpreted as a rather incongruous attempt at irony.

Minor quibbles aside, Woe have managed to cook up a successful opus here and the twelve-minute epic ‘Full Circle’ shows the band opening fire with every weapon in their sonic arsenal – raging blasts, insistent riffing and calm, sombre reflection as the track plays out with a mournful clean guitar refrain. Good as it is though, there are precious few moments on this release that really transcend. It’s decent, well-composed, nicely-produced and undeniably consistent but just lacks that certain essence that rams an album into the core of your consciousness. As an example of contemporary black metal played with finesse and a smattering of leftfield elements, ‘Quietly, Undramatically’ is a definite success but doesn’t scale the peaks we know this genre is capable of.

http://www.candlelightrecords.co.uk/