Woods 5: Grey Skies & Electric Light

Let's get this out of the way...David Gold, the creative force behind this album, died in a car crash several months before its release. The album is about death--and, in particular, the unfairness of sudden death. The irony and tragedy of that coincidence hang around this album so thickly that it is impossible not to think about it. I've been listening for a month and still, when I hear the vocalist sing, "I only had one life to live and life said no," I feel a shudder of horror.

OK, now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's try to talk about the music on its own merits. This is different from what that I normally listen to. I prefer music where the instrumentals are the focus. This album is all about lyrics. David Gold doesn't believe in God, and his writing wrestles with the consequences of unbelief. "Death is not an exit," he sings. "Death is a flick of a switch." This isn't "blasphemy music" though (another subgenre within metal). David isn't mocking religion; he's seriously trying to find meaning in a life without faith.

Two songs in particular on this album will stick with me. The opener, "Lightning & Snow," is perfectly constructed. David sings about the final moments of a man who has been struck by lightning. The choice to use the first-person voice is brilliant: "With a look of disbelief \ Alone and numb to the cold \ I knew the last moment had passed \ Before enduring years of sorrow." This also works as a piece of music--the guitars and drums conjure an atmosphere of a stormy night in an uncaring world. The one criticism that I would have of this album is that not every song manages to do this...sometimes the instrumentals seem less inspired.

The other song that I'd like to mention is "Traveling Alone," a bitter rebuke of the prosperity gospel. The singer says that he is too poor to believe that a benevolent God exists. Gold addresses the song to a nameless "you," who appears to be a wealthy member of the Christian faith: "I see your evidence of God \ All around me \ You have so therefore you are \ But I have not." These are scathing, memorable words, delivered in deep gothic tones.

I can't give this album my highest honors, because I care so much about instrumentals and sometimes they fall a little flat for me, especially in the back half of the album. Woods of Ypres cared more about the vocals, I think, which is fair enough. I will be returning to this album in the future.

UPDATE: I'm upgrading this album to a 3 because it is so damn memorable. Months later, I still find myself thinking about it a lot. Some albums create an entire world that we can enter, and this is one of them.