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Woods of Desolation – Torn Beyond Reason [2011]

Posted in Review with tags Australian Black Metal, Black Metal, Torn Beyond Reason, Woods of Desolation on 28th February 2011 by Nico Solheim-Davidson, the North Sea Poet

Band: Woods of Desolation
Album: Torn Beyond Reason
Release Year: 2011
Genre: Black Metal

“Torn Beyond Reason” is the second full-length release by Australian Black Metal duo “Woods of Desolation”.

The album begins with the title track “Torn Beyond Reason”. The track starts with a slow, high-pitched clean guitar riff mixed with slow, pounding drums which soon increase their pace when a high pitched wail comes in. The vocals are rough and raw compared to the cleanness if the guitars. The drums sound as if they’ve just been added on to the track for the sake of trying to make it heavy and brutal. The guitars go slightly distorted for a while on the track and the use of constant double bass pedal ruins the track.

“Darker Days” is next. It begins with acoustic guitar, which does little to set a mood for black metal. Distorted guitars and drums come in soon after. The drums, again sound as if they’ve just been added in for the sake of heaviness and brutality as they overpower the guitars too much on this track. There is a slight use of an eerie sounding choir alongside the harsher vocals, which adds a certain atmosphere to the track. The track isn’t any better than the previous one. Next is “An Unbroken Moment” which begins with a drum intro followed by fast-paced distorted guitars. The music completely overpowers the vocals, which sound like the faded screaming of a damned soul. The guitar riff is repetitive throughout most of the track, aside from a slow atmospheric section halfway through created by synthesisers and samples.

“The Inevitable End” comes after. It’s the longest track on the album. It begins with a slow guitar and drum intro, with a few tom-rolls here and there. The vocals strong less faded on this track. It takes a while for the track to speed up its pace and when it does, there is no improvement in the quality of composition of the track. The guitars sound too soft, same with the drums. “November” comes right after, beginning with an acoustic guitar intro, which lasts for half of the track. The other half of the track is dominated by distorted guitars and drums. It’s a mediocre track at best.

“Somehow” is the last track and the album and it has somewhat of an old-skool sound to it, in terms of the composition. The use of an eerie choir makes an appearance again, giving some atmosphere and mystique to the track. The track does turn slightly heavier after the vocals have come in and the pace does increase but like the rest of the album, it is pretty poor for black metal.

“Torn Beyond Reason” is, without a doubt, an awfully composed album. It lacks thee raw energy and brutality one expects to find on a black metal album. Some of the production values are too good for black metal and the drums need more work. This would have probably been better as a demo, rather than a full-length release.

1.5/5

Nico Davidson