Album Review // 2021-07-16

Woods Of Ypres

Woods 5: Grey Skies & Electric Light

Released: 2012-02-27

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I came into this hearing a song here or there by this band. I knew they were my fellow Canadians, and I knew that David Gold had passed many years ago, just months before this album's release. I just thought it was time to check out a whole album and take a deeper look at it.

This album in particular came out after his death. I can't imagine putting so much time and effort into a piece of art, only to not be able to experience the moment it is released to the ears of others. I imagine this was also very hard on his friends and family. I can imagine the nostalgia this album must hold for some. 

Ypres is a city in Belgium that was strategically used during WW1. Apparently, Canadians played a significant role in this battle at this location. I was thinking this is why they chose the name. I believe there is a poem written about this area that is recited in Canada on Remembrance Day, to this day. I later found out the name was actually taken from another band's song title. I am not familiar with the band. So, my theory is wrong.

It seems like the only member that stayed constant through the lifetime of this band was David. 

Album Art

I like that this artwork only used a few shades. The size of the man in the background makes me feel like he is looking over the rest of the scene. He definitely seems full of sorrow. He has covered his face, which is something I would do in a place I don't want to be recognized or if I don't want to be a part of things. Like putting up a wall between me and something else. I like that the CN Tower is in the picture. It instantly makes me realize this is Canadian. The woods on the edge makes sense with the name of the band. The lake scene is unclear if the person is reaching for a fish he has just caught, or if he is searching for something. An interesting mixture of things, which I am sure had deep meaning for the band.

Mood

This feels gloomy, but energetic. Maybe like the energy that you can feel when a storm is starting. This album seems to gain some kind of strength from talking about death head-on. As someone who is new to this band, I can't help but notice that this album almost seems to predict David's death. Though that may seem dramatic, it is fair to say he was thinking about his own death. 

Vocals

This very low vocal is rare. I can only think of a few that have this low of a singing voice. I think the uniqueness of it draws me in. The scream is good too, though I wouldn't have paired it with the lower vocal. Not what I would expect his scream to be.

Music

There is something catchy about this music. It makes the songs feel memorable and solidly places them into your head. I feel like the keyboard grounds things, and brings an atmosphere to it. The instruments flow cohesively, so you don't really think of a specific instrument as standing out. It is safe to say that the artists involved in this album were multifaceted. There are two members listed as doing all the parts and songwriting.

Lightning & Snow

I can't say that I have ever experienced lightning and snow together. In this story, this kind of storm brings with it sorrow and negativity.

As a kid we had a large set of windows looking out to the wilderness, and it was such that you could really see storms coming. There was a certain energy about a storm starting that seemed exciting. It made me want to run out into it. Sometimes I did, and still do. I guess, where I am from, storms aren't usually dangerous other than the amount of snow left on roads, and obviously lightning itself. 

There was a flash of lightning, followed by snow
In a moment of silence (for myself), after a shock to the soul

With a look of disbelief, alone and numb to the cold
I knew the last moment had passed, before enduring years of sorrow

There was a crack of electric light, coming down from a darkened sky
My dreams flashed before my eyes, as they were erased from my life

Death Is Not An Exit

I am not positive what these words all mean. The title indicates that you don't leave or go anywhere after death. Later on, it talks about continuing to exist or always existing. So, maybe you are still on earth, but it is different. It talks about earth being a spiritual place. Spirituality itself is so different for each person. It seems, overall, spirituality is something to do with the soul as something separate from the body or non-material things. It then goes on to say we are nothing, which seems to indicate we have no value. Then to say death is a flick of the switch. It has me curious - what switch?

If nothing else, it makes me wonder what it all meant to the band. It makes me think that maybe the thought here was that our spirits stay on earth, like an iteration of a ghost, at death. Personally, I believe the soul is something separate from the body, and it is immortal. I have many friends that don't believe anyone or anything has a soul, and some that believe humans are just one thing with a soul.

We are confined, to the nature of reality
Where the failure of our system will be the end of our dream
Between the fields of darkness, before and after we exist
Earth is a spiritual place, but there is nothing after this

We were nothing... for a billion years before our time
And we will be... nothing more again, for an eternity yet to come

Oh... death is not an exit
Oh... death is the flick of the switch
Oh... death is not an exit
Oh... death is the flick of the all-switch

Keeper Of The Ledger

This makes me think about how a judge is supposed to be an unbiased person that is able to look at facts and find the truth. I honestly don't think there is a person on the planet that isn't biased in some way. This idea of a ledger taking in the facts and not leaning on emotion or bias, being able to keep track of the wrong and the right, is a clever illustration of an age-old question: "Does it matter what you do? Is anyone paying attention? Does it matter?"  

These words also speak to the fact that we all die. We all must pay this price.

The count is cold and calculated, the precision is exact
No one is exempt or unaccounted for,
All that was taken will be taken back

The gods have always been believed to love,
And care for the quality of our lives
But the keeper of the ledger for the cult of nature,
Only concerns with quantity of your time

Return to the earth, pay the price for your existence
Into the hand of earth’s domain
For there is balance to be maintained

Traveling Alone

This title makes me think that the author feels alone. It is like he wants to think differently, but he is convinced there is no God. He wants to feel like there is more to life, but he feels like it is pointless. 

The description of not wanting to put a damper on someone else's hope, makes me think of a child that has intense optimism and thinks he can do superhuman things. You tell him bit by bit some harsh realities, but you don't give him too much, too soon, as you don't want to crush his spirit.

I can be thankful to be alive but I despise this life
In all my years, at best, I've only learned just to survive

But when I look around you, I understand why you believe
I see your evidence of God, all around me

You have so therefore you are but I have not
You've seen the evidence of God but I have not and I have none

(When he asked me), I shook my head and laughed
I never had a taste for life
And I felt there was no turning back

Would I try to take away their hope?
Replace it with reality
Exchange their joy with my bleak view
And leave them miserable like me?

Adora Vivos

The title indicates a love for life. I think this concept is contrasted against the love we often have for those once they have passed. Think of the artists out there that didn't get any love until they were gone, when their art was hung everywhere and in great demand. I grew up hearing from my mother that "absence makes the heart grow fonder." I think there is a lot of truth to it.

A moment of silence (for the dead), but not one moment more
The dead are to be forgotten, we are here to be adored
If you're waiting for tomorrow, save yourself for another day
But if you’re living in the moment, don’t wait ‘till death to sing my praise

Adora vivos - our people are civilized...
Love the living while they’re still alive
Adora vivos - our people are civilized...
We shouldn’t worship the dead

Silver

This is referring to not finishing first. It is about being abandoned for someone better. 

Life was a relay
I passed it off to you
You ran away, and won the race
You never looked back, to see what happened to me
For I was only second place

When the new love shined with all the promise of all I couldn’t give to you
And the new life offered all you wanted, and you were asked to choose

When you’re silver, you never come first
When you’re silver, the truth always hurts

Career Suicide (Is Not Real Suicide)

This seems to be talking about what we spend our life putting effort into. What is success, after all? And who defines it?

We are all expendable, and we can be replaced
They have supplies of infinite lives, and no time to waste

But we have only one life to live, one time to exist
And though there is no afterlife
There is still more to life than this!

Death is the failure of our parts
Failure is just the death of dreams
There’s more to life than success
But only death is real...

Modern Life Architecture

I think this is talking about when we are young and clueless. We have no idea what to watch out for, what details to think of, what is worth it in the long run. We often jump into things and think it will fall together. This song is here to tell you the road will have its bumps.

When we're young, we design a plan,
We work, we build, we make it real
And in the moment it becomes complete,
The first cracks start to appear

A weak foundation, finally revealed
in the desperation, when the walls came tumbling down

A life in crisis, is always threatened by time
For the longer it takes to be restored...
The less likely it is to occur

Kiss My Ashes (Goodbye)

I actually have to say that I find this song to be kinda cheesy - the mixture of the catchiness and the words...

I think it is about being gone when you are gone. The idea that your body is burned and not put in the ground with a monument over it. I think many people that are cremated have no burial of their ashes nor urn; they are spread somewhere. Their body itself isn't important to them after death.

To mourn the end is to say goodbye
Not to yearn for that which we will never have again

We cry for our life together, because we know it will end
And we try to understand, how we could ever love again

Curse all those who were so vain
Who felt entitled to hold a place on the earth
As a grave for their remains
But no monument for me, please... I am not one of them
I didn’t need it in life, I won’t need it in death

Finality

This song sounds like acceptance that death will come, even though he didn't experience a relationship in the way he wanted while he was living. Maybe there is someone already dead that he feels like he is joining in death, or maybe his thoughts about the person can't be taken away by death.

When we all have gone, to the silence of eternity...
To first be forgotten, and lost in the records of the earth
Could I still miss you, then, in the time and space after life
When no one is searching anymore,
And where we are nowhere to be found

We didn't spend our life together
And I will miss you forever

The choice was mine, to long for a time, that will never come
Though we leave the world apart, I, still went peacefully,
Quietly, with you, still, firmly... in my heart

And I will wait forever
I wait...

Alternate Ending

This song feels a little mysterious. It finishes this album, and also seems to indicate the end of life. But what is weird, is that it mentions the author's last minutes in what appears to be a vehicle accident. In Ontario, especially in the winter, accidents are very common on highways. In the area I live, which is small in size, we see many deaths on the highways each year. I knew many people, personally, that were killed on the highway, whether by the condition of the roads, or by collisons with wildlife.

It sounds like he held onto wishing he was a part of someone's life. This seems to be the heavy thing on his mind in the last seconds of his life. Makes me wonder what races through your head if you have a few minutes' notice that you are dying. Some accidents don't allow that time.

In the darkness, under the stars, with enough warning,
To pull off to the side, in time

In the end, was there anyone to share in your joy?
I woke up one day...and realized it was already over

Back on the highway, under the moon, my final moments,
Still wondering about you...

In the end, was there anyone to share in your joy?
I woke up for years without you, to realize it was already over, for me

Now making amendments... to the story...
Changing the ending, as I would like it to be

We were together, in a memory and we live forever, in finality
Holding on... to a dream...
When the end... couldn't come slow enough for me.

Playlist Pick

I will put Death Is Not An Exit on my playlist. It just gets stuck in my head and is a great driving song. The music works perfectly with this vocal style. The pace is good.

My second pick is Keeper Of The Ledger. Nice contrasted vocals. That chorus is very memorable.