Woods of Desolation - The Falling Tide

Angry Metal Guy

Australia’s Woods of Desolation makes metal to metaphor by. The band’s evocative style of blackgaze, preoccupied with the natural world and the passage of time, provokes strong reactions from their small but passionate cadre of fans. The Falling Tide is WoD’s first album since 2014’s As the Stars. That one dropped during what can be called Peak Blackgaze, when outfits like Alcest and especially Deafheaven briefly captivated mainstream audiences¹ and divided the backpatch set with their twinkling takes on metal’s trvest subgenre. As the Stars is an underappreciated gem of that era, covered in an early edition of Stuck in the Filter that also included Artificial Brain’s Labyrinth Constellation and Mantar’s Death by Burning. Amazing month for the Filter there–but those other acts released a torrent of quality material in the interim, while Woods of Desolation fell silent. What has band mastermind D. been up to for the past eight years, and can he recapture the ragged textures and delicate atmosphere that made As the Stars stand out?

The arc of most blackgaze bands bends away from the harsh, but Woods of Desolation is content to play the same brand of emotive atmoblack they did almost a decade ago. The Falling Tide retains the core elements of WoD’s sound, filtering the familiar chiming tremolos and post-metal elements through D.s new fascination with mortality. The subject matter lends this slab a somber sheen, but this is still anthemic and often beautiful music. D. plays nearly all the instruments on The Falling Tide, and he takes over vocal duties from the departed Old. He shrieks in a strained rasp that emphasizes his connection to the material–it sounds at times like D. is sacrificing his vocal cords to get this message out. Naysayers may decry the occasionally repetitive compositions, but the songs are urgent and effective and the album’s thirty-five minutes surge over, through and past the listener. The Falling Tide is a stirring success, a gorgeous and moving companion piece to As the Stars that even outdoes its predecessor on some fronts.

Opener (and embedded track) “Far From Here” establishes an atmosphere of curiosity and yearning that hovers over The Falling Tide. The music builds and crescendoes as D. muses on the fleeting nature of all experience. That theme of mortality prevails throughout. The fifth and penultimate track is even an instrumental called “The Passing,” and it’s followed by closer “Anew” and its suggestion that birth and death are part of a cycle that’s not so different than the crashing of waves on a shore. It could just be that The Falling Tide is the perfect match of subject matter and listener. I spend a lot of time thinking about and trying to come to terms with the inevitability of death, to the point where I spend many of my Sundays visiting hospice patients. So it’s probably not surprising that The Falling Tide connected with me so strongly; I’m not sure I agree with D.’s “conclusions” about death, to the extent he presents any–but exposing myself to his point of view sharpened my own thoughts and perspective on the matter.

The worst you could say about The Falling Tide is that nothing about the music is novel or inventive in the Year of Our Lord 2022. That’s as true now as it was in 2014. It’s also true that D. leans on familiar tricks and similar song structures; this platter could receive a cease and desist letter from the law firm of Same, Y., and Ness. That doesn’t play as creative stasis to these ears. Rather, it seems like Woods of Desolation found the right format to express their chosen themes and stuck with it. It helps that the album keeps things short. The Falling Tide’s run time is calibrated to both its songwriting and its subject. The platter takes you on a brief but compelling journey, then backs off so you can reflect before things get tedious.

I didn’t know I wanted a new Woods of Desolation album after all this time, but it turns out The Falling Tide is just the thing for the darkest month of the year. Here are thirty-five minutes of radiant blackgaze that hold both the beauty of life and the crushing sadness of its passing. If you’re currently alive, or if you might someday be dead, go on and get that D. into your earholes before it’s too late.

Rating: 4.0/5.0
DR: 10 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Season of Mist Underground Activists
Website: facebook.com/woodsofdesolation | woodsofdesolation.bandcamp.com
Releases Worldwide: December 9th, 2022

The post Woods of Desolation – The Falling Tide Review appeared first on Angry Metal Guy.