Review by Xephyr for In the Woods... - HEart of the Ages (1995)

A Haunting Trek

This sophomore album from In The Woods... seemingly exists in an interesting space between traditional Atmospheric Black Metal and a strange amalgamation of progressive influences that pulls the album in all sorts of directions before eventually finding its way back to its shrieking base genre. Upon first hearing the beginning of "Yearning the Seeds of a New Dimension", it'd be hard to even know you'll be listening to a dense and forceful Black Metal performance seven minutes from now. HEart of the Ages is many, many things; its themes and influences ranging from Gothic theatrics to folky Paganism to a more stripped down, ambient sound with its unsettling use of synthesizers. All of these elements come together to form something that's haunting and truly atmospheric, rather than just being lazily labeled as such. If anything, the atmosphere comes from the idea of meandering around and teasing its Black Metal aspects instead of fully committing to the classic wall of grinding, low production guitar and drumming. When introduced like this HEart of Ages sounds like one of the most important Atmospheric Black Metal albums to ever be released and while it's no doubt one of the most interesting, its haphazardness eventually leads to its slight downfall. 

In The Woods... is able to achieve an extremely resonant sound with their production, with none of the synths sounding thin and the percussion and vocal screeching echoing off into the distance. This also helps the more ambient and quieter sections feel more immersive, since they feel like they actually have some depth to them. Overall this is just an extremely pretty album that pulls out all the stops when it comes to dismal but somehow hopeful melodies played in either a Folk, Gothic, or Doom style. There are so many different variations on the haunting atmosphere HEart of the Ages kicks off with, ranging from soothing chords and clean background guitar in "Mourning the Death of Aase", to the piano in "Pigeon", to the overall strange and spacey experimental synths in "Wotan's Return". All of these parts by themselves sound fantastic, with the layering and balance being spot on so nothing sounds too shallow or out of place. As a full product, though, the transitions and placement of these elements leaves a lot to be desired, since I found the whole affair to have fairly lackluster progression most of the time. There are some obvious exceptions, like the second half of the closer "The Divinity of Wisdom" and the riff progression of "Wotan's Return", but the rest of the album lacked continuity for me. The constant vocal and mood switches leave certain parts feeling a bit wonky and out of place, one of the prime examples actually being the 7 minute build-up of the first track. While beautiful, haunting, and setting up the atmosphere of the rest of the album perfectly, I can't shake that something just doesn't line up as it slowly transitions from atmospheric synth to ripping Black Metal. 

Although the Black Metal isn't the massive talking point within HEart of the Ages, it certainly has its moments when the Black Metal is just absolutely killer. The vocals admittedly come off as a bit too visceral for what they're supporting and take a bit to get warmed up to, but I do think they work out favorably in the end. The mental shrieking is such a shock factor since it's so different than the theatrical clean singing or spoken word that's normally used throughout the album. It definitely keeps the listener on their toes since tracks like "Heart of the Ages" has the tendency to swap between them seemingly at random during certain parts. When In The Woods... finally stops skirting around the traditional Black Metal aspects of their album and actually get down to some riffing though, it's a serious treat with "Wotan's Return" and "...In the Woods" having stunningly aggressive riffs, tremolo, and even some chug thrown in there. Some of the more standard Black Metal fare does tend to drag during the more extended heavy sections, but it's still able to carry the atmosphere set up by all of the synths and other elements In The Woods... throws in extremely well. The guitar solos really shine too since the songs have enough buildup and tension to really nail a huge payoff after setting up all of the prerequisites. 

HEart of the Ages is a unique Black Metal experience that fans don't want to miss out on, but it somehow failed to make a serious impression on me personally. For me, the sum of its parts is actually lesser than the parts themselves, with certain portions being a masterful display of a more progressive side of Atmospheric Black Metal. The lo-fi elements aren't overdone, the riffs are impressive, the atmosphere is haunting and dismal, so on the surface it seems like everything I could have asked for. It's left me at a crossroads where even though I think the songwriting is well done, it's negligent haphazardness as it traverses so much musical ground really comes back to bite it in the end. In The Woods... are able to cover so much in one short hour that while being impressive and memorizing most of the time there are just certain parts that didn't sit well with me. The Doom/Gothic vocals can be a bit overdone in some cases, some Black Metal riffs go on for a bit too long, some transitions within the atmospheric sections feel a bit wonky, and these small issues sadly compounded enough for me to call HEart of the Ages a triumph in a more progressive avenue of Atmospheric Black Metal, but not necessarily a classic. The ideas and riffs are fantastic, but the execution as a holistic experience falls just a bit flat.