In the Woods ...

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In the Woods ...
In the Woods ... at the Wave-Gotik-Treffen 2017 in Leipzig
In the Woods ... at the Wave-Gotik-Treffen 2017 in Leipzig
General information
Genre (s) Pagan metal , progressive metal
founding 1992, 2014
resolution 2000
Website https://www.facebook.com/inthewoodsomnio
Founding members
guitar
 Christian Botteri
bass
 Christopher Botteri
Drums
 Other Kobro
Current occupation
Jan Kenneth “Ovl. Svithjod "/" Transit "Transeth
Female voice
 Synne "Soprana" Larsen
Bjørn "Berserk" Hårstad
guitar
 Christian Botteri
guitar
 Christer-André Cederberg
guitar
 Oddvar "A: M" († 2013)
Christopher "C: M." Botteri
Kobro is different
former members
Arve Lomsland (as guest musician)
Singer James Fogarty

In the Woods… is a metal band from Norway that was founded in 1992 in Kristiansand . The band separated in 2000 and has been active again since 2014.

history

In the Woods ... was founded in the fall of 1992 by members of the band Green Carnation after their head Tchort switched to Emperor and was therefore put on hold. In 1993 the band released rehearsal and demo recordings; of The Isle of Men she sold over 3,000 copies worldwide, which earned her a record deal with Misanthropy Records . In 1995 her debut HEart of the Ages was released there . In 1996 the band released the single White Rabbit and went on tour with Katatonia , in 1997 they released their second album Omnio . In 1999 her third album Strange was released in stereo .

In 2000 the band announced their breakup and announced a farewell concert to be held on December 29, 2000 in the Caledonia Hall in Kristiansand. In addition to pieces from all releases from 1995, the complete Omnio album was played there. The songs from the debut did not include screeching vocals: “As early as 1994, when we recorded the record, I didn't want to sing with a distorted voice, I wanted to sing clearly. But the others in the band asked me to scream for at least half of the tracks. […] But six years have passed between the recordings of the debut and the last gig, and so it only seemed natural to me to replace the screeching passages, especially since it would not have been particularly smart to close the vocal cords at the beginning of the set strain. “After the dissolution, the record company Karmakosmetix was founded as a starting point for future projects. These include Silent Opprör and Transit. A recording of the farewell concert was released in 2003 as a live album entitled Liveatthecaledonienhall . Drummer Andreas Kobro plays for Carpathian Forest today . He and many of the other members continued to run Green Carnation after In the Woods was dissolved.

In 2014 the band announced that they would reform again. The band gave their first concert together at the beginning of 2016 at the Blastfest in Bergen. Further festival shows followed u. a. on the grass pop in Belgium. On June 23, 2016 the release of the new album Pure was announced. At the same time, the It's the Devil at the Doors tour with the Japanese band Sigh was announced.

Music style and lyrics

In the early stages almost all members of the band were enthusiastic about Under the Sign of the Black Mark and Blood Fire Death and generally listened to "a lot of the first six Bathory albums". They tried to achieve a sound similar to Quorthon , the head of the band, which is why they initially resorted to screeching vocals. Therefore, the band was often assigned to Black Metal , which both they and Frank Stöver from Voices from the Darkside , among others, rejected. Ovl. Svithjod told Stöver that the band was aware of the emerging Norwegian black metal wave, but that it did not have a monopoly on this style of singing. Typical were passages with driving drums and strongly distorted vocals, which alternated with atmospheric interludes with clear vocals. Due to the preoccupation with paganism , the band was one of the first bands to be assigned to Pagan Metal . Her demo recording The Isle of Men or its re-release A Return to the Isle of Men included, in addition to “crazy tempo and sudden changes in passage, which in retrospect only seem logical”, “clear vocals, whispering, correct singing (!)” And “elements from pop or Ambient ”. The band was reluctant to comment on their lyrics. It is not important what they are about, it is "a matter of conveying a feeling like the music". There is a “common thread in the texts: the period in which they were written. Many are about loss, which has its roots in personal problems I went through during this time. ”Ovl. Svithjod referred to many of the bands that switched from black metal to Viking themes as "trendies", but he preferred it to them singing about Satanism . The band was inspired by nature, but could not identify with environmental protection organizations such as Greenpeace for ideological reasons. For Ovl. Svithjod was the subject of Norse mythology “more than stories, it created a sense of descent. I didn't get into music until later, and when we were writing songs there was a kind of cross-fertilization. ”Ovl. Svithjod was temporarily a member of the Balder Brotherhood and also printed an advertisement for the organization in his fanzine A 1000 Years .. ... of lost pride and dignity . There he also printed an interview with Varg Vikernes von Burzum , who was arrested at the time but not yet convicted in court , which he designed, among other things, with a swastika with the Vikernes eye of the All-Germanic Pagan Front founded by Vikernes ; he addressed "pagan greetings" to Vikernes, but also scoffed at his remark that he was proud of his blue eyes, blond hair and white skin, since Vikernes had dyed his hair black during his black metal phase, printed a comic ab, who parodied Vikernes 'church arson, and referred to people who use the vota eye as Vikernes' slaves. About the Mayhem guitarist Euronymous , who was murdered by Vikernes , he falsely spread that it had been proven that he had murdered his singer Dead (who shot himself in 1991), described Vikernes' comments against him as the "revelation of the 'real' Euronymous" and described them Band Dissection in its review of their debut The Somberlain as "Mayhem's slaves" and therefore not worthy of any respect. Later, Norse mythology “no longer played such a big role”, “it too was only a key that opened doors inside me”.

In the course of their development "[...] progressive and psychedelic influences increasingly gained the upper hand". The debut HEart of the Ages combined "influences from progressive rock , pagan metal, classical music and many different vocal styles". An example of the stylistic diversity of the album is the first track, Yearning the Seeds of a New Dimension , which begins with an extensive, "spacey" and atmospheric keyboard harmony. The synthesizer section is followed by a slowly played passage in which the drums and other instruments are also used. The (clear) singing starts after almost five minutes. After about six and a half minutes, during a passage with soft guitars, there is a spoken passage, to which there is an “inhuman” and “nasty” whisper. After about seven minutes, melodic guitar playing, the drums and, for the first time, guttural vocals come into play, after about nine minutes the song changes into a significantly faster passage with tremolo guitar and blast beats , after which clear vocals are used again. At the end of the title, gentle guitar play occurs again. The lyrics of the debut album “were still pretty much 'in the woods', it was about paganism, spiritual freedom and the Nordic legends of gods and heroes”. According to Ovl. Svithjod's first album was “more about observing situations within my immediate environment; was spatially and mentally stuck in Norway ”. The texts were less about Vikings than about the philosophies and ideologies of their era.

Omnio was “generally less metallic, elegiac , melancholic , almost sylphic ”. The album is more doomy than its predecessor and contains both growls and clear male vocals in the style of My Dying Bride , the screeching vocals, however, have almost completely disappeared. Ovl. Svithjod described the album as "an introspection".

Sebastian König from Metalnews wrote about the compilation Three Times Seven on a Pilgrimage that it "could very well have been published in the 70s". Singer Jan Kenneth provided as an explanation of the title:

"What number is three times seven? - it's an ode to timeless psychedelic music in the 21st century"

"What number is three times seven? - It is an ode to timeless psychedelic music in the 21st century"

- Jan Kenneth : Prophecy Productions

On their live album Liveatthecaledonienhall you can find pieces from all releases from their debut. The pieces by this "in no way appear to be foreign bodies, rather they combine to form a perfect, harmonious sounding symbiosis with the more recent works, although In The Woods ... have gone through quite a development over the years".

The band sees Strange in stereo “as a collection of individual songs, the lyrics a little like Polaroids from the life of a stranger. I don't want to relate to the listener, some topics got too close to me for that and I put too much thought into the corresponding texts. I think if everyone knew what exactly a certain song is about, the words lose their aura. "

reception

The debut is considered influential for some modern black and pagan metal bands. According to Yannick Lengkeek from Metal1.info , "[...] the influence this work had on many modern Black Metal bands and other black-metallic musicians, such as Agalloch or Woods of Ypres , [...] should not go unmentioned". The NSBM band Graveland mentions In the Woods… as inspiration on their MySpace presence. In the Woods… influences are also assumed with the band Wolves in the Throne Room .

The other works also received mostly positive approval: "With epic keyboard carpets, dreamy and calm passages, with weird tones, spacey timbres and sometimes even with the violin, you can reach dimensions that have rarely been achieved by a band," wrote a writer from Metal. de about the album Strange in stereo .

Discography

  • 1993: Rehearsal '93 (demo)
  • 1993: Isle of Men (demo)
  • 1995: Heart of the Ages
  • 1996: White Rabbit ( 7 " )
  • 1996: A Return to the Isle of Men (re-release of Isle of Men with bonus tracks)
  • 1997: Omnio
  • 1998: Let There Be More Light (7 ")
  • 1999: Strange in Stereo
  • 2000: Epitaph (7 ")
  • 2000: Three Times Seven on a Pilgrimage (re-release of the singles)
  • 2003: Liveatthecaledonienhall (live album)
  • 2016: Pure
  • 2018: Cease the Day

Web links

Commons : In the Woods ...  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ With sadness we heard about the death of ... , May 14, 2013, accessed May 26, 2013.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Robert Müller: Black Metal between bloody hype and unabashed art . In: Metal Hammer , No. 2, 1996, p. 122.
  3. ↑ a b c d e Frank Stöver: Pagan Myths from the Deep Eternal Forests . In The Woods ... . In: Voices from the Darkside , No. 7, 1996, p. 55.
  4. ^ Robert Müller: Green Carnation . Collective coming to terms with the past . In: Hard Rock & Metal Hammer , December 2000, p. 112.
  5. ↑ a b c d e IN THE WOODS ... (Norway) ( Memento of the original from November 15, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed November 26, 2012. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.prophecyproductions.de
  6. ↑ a b c d Live At The Caledonien Hall ( Memento of the original from November 15, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed November 26, 2012. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.prophecyproductions.de
  7. ↑ a b c d Sebastian König: In The Woods ... - Live At The Caledonien Hall , November 10, 2003, accessed November 26, 2012.
  8. ↑ Robert Müller: In the Woods ... . Farewell without tears . In: Hard Rock & Metal Hammer , October 2003, p. 82.
  9. ↑ KARMAKOSMETIX ( Memento of 25 October 2006 at the Internet Archive ), accessed on 26 November 2012 found.
  10. ↑ Martin Wickler: Carpathian Forest . Progress versus stagnation . In: Hard Rock & Metal Hammer , November 2000, p. 124.
  11. ^ Back into the woods. Facebook, August 5, 2014, accessed July 18, 2016 .
  12. ↑ IN THE WOODS ... - New Album Details Revealed. Debemur Morti Productions , June 26, 2016, accessed July 18, 2016 .
  13. ^ Christian Wachter: Progressive Heiden . In: Pagan Fire . No. 2 , 2008, p. 51 .
  14. ^ Marc Halupczok : Waldschrate & mead drinkers . In: Metal Hammer . Axel Springer Mediahouse GmbH, Berlin March 2010, p. 30 .
  15. ↑ Amicus: IN THE WOODS ... . A Return To The Isle Of Men (CD 1996) , September 4, 2005, accessed November 26, 2012.
  16. ↑ a b c Robert Müller: In The Woods ... . Trancedent music experience . In: Hard Rock & Metal Hammer , March 1999.
  17. ↑ a b c d Frank Stöver: Pagan Myths from the Deep Eternal Forests . In The Woods ... . In: Voices from the Darkside , No. 7, 1996, p. 56.
  18. ↑ Ovl. Svithjod: The Way of the Editor . In: A 1000 Years ... of lost pride and dignity . The Epitaph for religious propaganda , No. 1.
  19. ↑ a b Burzum . Up From The Ashes ~ Or into a Prison? . In: A 1000 Years ... of lost pride and dignity . The Epitaph for religious propaganda , No. 1.
  20. ↑ Mik Kerttonen: The Trends Exposed at Last !! . In: A 1000 Years ... of lost pride and dignity . The Epitaph for religious propaganda , No. 1.
  21. ^ Dissection "The Somberlain" lp / cd `93/94 . In: A 1000 Years ... of lost pride and dignity . The Epitaph for religious propaganda , No. 1.
  22. ↑ Trickster F .: IN THE WOODS ... . HEart of the Ages , accessed November 26, 2012.
  23. ↑ a b Robert Müller: In the Woods . The expressionists of metal . In: New Rock & Metal Hammer , August 1997, p. 56.
  24. ↑ Seth T. White: In The Woods ... - Omnio , May 21, 2006, accessed November 26, 2012.
  25. ↑ Three times seven on a pilgrimage ( Memento of the original from November 15, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.prophecyproductions.de
  26. ^ Yannick Lengkeek: In the Woods - Heart of the Ages. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on September 15, 2011 ; Retrieved March 18, 2010 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.metal1.info
  27. ↑ Graveland. Retrieved December 4, 2009 .
  28. ↑ Dominik T .: WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM . Along with further reviews and unsystematic comments , accessed on November 28, 2012.
  29. ↑ Alex: Wolves in the Throne Room - Diadem of 12 Stars , accessed November 27, 2012.
  30. ↑ Asmondeus: In The Woods ... - Strange In Stereo. February 11, 1999, accessed March 18, 2010 .