Woods of Ypres

Woods of Ypres
Promotional photo for Woods IV: (L-R) Evan Madden, Bryan Belleau, Shane Madden, David Gold Promotional photo for Woods IV: (L-R) Evan Madden, Bryan Belleau, Shane Madden, David Gold
Background information
Origin	Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada
Genres	Black metal[1] Doom metal[2]
Years active	2002–Present
Labels	Krankenhaus Earache
Website	Official website
Members
David Gold Joel Violette

Woods of Ypres is a blackened doom metal band from Ontario, Canada.

Biography

Woods of Ypres was formed in 2002 by David Gold, Aaron Palmer and Brian McManus. The trio released the first Woods Of Ypres demo, Against the Seasons: Cold Winter Songs from the Dead Summer Heat, the same year. In 2003, David Gold moved to Toronto to begin working on a full-length album. In 2004 the band's first full length album, Pursuit of the Sun & Allure of the Earth was released on David Gold's record label, Krankenhaus Records. The third Woods of Ypres album Woods III: Deepest Roots & Darkest Blues was released at the end of 2007. Contrasting the two albums, critic Laura Taylor wrote, "While Pursuit of the Sun verged on metallised Pink Floyd, Woods’s latest unearths more of the band’s black and dark metal inspirations".^[3] In 2008 the band was featured on the cover of Unrestrained! Magazine.^[4]

The fourth Woods of Ypres album, Woods IV: The Green Album was released in November 2009. Exclaim! called it "the band's most amorphous and powerful creature so far."^[5]

All of the band's albums have been released on independent labels.^[5]

Woods of Ypres were thought to have broken up in 2010 due to frontman David Gold's move to Kuwait for financial and occupational reasons. However, that has been negated by words from David himself.^[6] Their next album, "Woods 5: You Were The Light", was recorded in August 2010 and will be released in the November 2011.^[7] Gold has stated that it may be just a digital download and not pressed to CD. [1]

In October 2010, it was announced that Woods of Ypres had signed to Earache Records and that all rumors of the band being split up were false.

Members

Current members

• David Gold - vocals, guitar
• Joel Violette - lead guitar

Former members

• Shane Madden - Bass guitar
• Evan Madden - Drums
• Bryan Belleau - guitar
• Brian McManus - guitar, vocals
• Aaron Palmer - bass, vocals
• Jessica Rose - keyboards
• Dan Hulse - bass guitar, vocals

Discography

• Against the Seasons: Cold Winter Songs from the Dead Summer Heat CD (2002, Krankenhaus Records)
• Pursuit of the Sun & Allure of the Earth CD (2004, Krankenhaus Records)
• Woods III: The Deepest Roots And Darkest Blues CD (2008, Krankenhaus Records)^[8]
• Woods 4: The GREEN Album CD (2009, Practical Art Records)
• Woods 5: Grey Skies & Electric Light (2012, Earache Records)

Influences

• Agalloch
• Amorphis
• Anathema
• Arcturus
• Borknagar
• Crowbar
• Danzig
• Enslaved
• Jerry Cantrell
• Katatonia
• Type O Negative
• Vintersorg

External reviews

• Bravewords.com

References

1. ^ Chen, D. (April 6, 2008). "Fricker personifies persistence", Windsor Star. Retrieved April 24, 2010.
2. ^ "Woods of Ypres", Straight.com. Retrieved April 24, 2010.
3. ^ Wiebe Taylor, Laura (March 2008). "Woods Of Ypres: Deepest Roots and Darkest Blues", Exclaim!. Retrieved April 24, 2010.
4. ^ Wiebe Taylor, Laura (February 2009). "Concert reviews: Woods of Ypres / Musk Ox / Eclipse Eternal / Piledriver / Detsorgsekalf / Endorphins / Into The Void", Exclaim!. Retrieved April 24, 2010.
5. ^ ^{a b} Taylor, Laura (February 2010). "Woods Of Ypres: Woods 4: The Green Album", Exclaim!. Retrieved April 24, 2010.
6. ^ http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/woods-ypres/633478-woods-ypres-signs-earache-records.html
7. ^ http://www.mindovermetal.org/woods-of-ypres-founder-david-gold-live-on-mind-over-metal/
8. ^ Chicago Daily Herald, 18 December 2008, "Sonic wonders of 08" by Jeff Pizek

External links

• Woods of Ypres Official Site
• Woods of Ypres at MySpace
• "WOODS OF YPRES Interview with David Gold", Xplosive Metal, March 2011, Caroline Restiaux