How does one recover from desolation? He weeps until he wastes away under Grey Skies and Electric Light...
#4
Woods of Ypres - Woods 5: Grey Skies & Electric Light
When tributes poured in following the passing of vocalist David Gold, we all knew we were robbed of an immense heavy metal talent. The world is short of a man who cut his heart and bled out on stage each night he stood to command it. Woods of Ypres didn't much stand for doom metal ceremony. There's no weepy violin or midnight Chaucer readings heard on Woods 5; just untrammeled woe and "horribleness" which pervades the most adamantine of optimism, snuffing it out mercilessly. I imagine cheery souls listening to five minutes worth would scream for it to be shut off lest it exposed their void, usually papered over with saccharine platitudes and counterfeit smiles. Woods 5 in essence is a potent cocktail of post-punk minimalism, heart-tearing guitar bravado and gothic riffs cut with middle fingers thrust squarely at the establishment - what finer epitaph for David Gold than the Woods of Ypres' ultimate heavy metal wristcutting romance?
From the review posted at Metal As Fuck:
Though Gold screams at us "We shouldn’t worship the dead!" over and over in the severe black metal cut Adora Vivos – the Woods of Ypres will still see many a fan supplicate before them in testimony of his incredible talent for one of rock music’s darkest artforms. We will miss you, brother. Thank you for everything.
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The Top 10 Metal of 2012
#5 - Killing Joke - MMXII
#6 - The Faceless - Autotheism
#7 - Be'lakor - Of Breath and Bone
#8 - Baroness - Yellow & Green
#9 - Rush - Clockwork Angels
#10 - Barren Earth - The Devil's Resolve
The Honorable Mentions