STRANGE IN STEREO

Norwegian band "In The Woods" releases in 1999, after the near perfect "Omnio", "Strange In Stereo", their last, triumphant album. And I must say, I expected something a lot worse. This is a great, haunting album, with songs that easily beat some of Omnio's songs.

If "Omnio" was a journey through man's inner fears, "Strange In Stereo" is a journey through the most concrete of our fears, a terrifying trip in the deep dungeons of the night. As I made clear, the album is extremely dark, tense, doomy, sinister, but also haunting, passionate, and a little dreamy in some moments. The structure of the album is enjoyable, but the idea of many, short songs (eleven in total), didn't exactly thrill me, especially because I knew the concept of the album before even listening to it.

Some songs are amazing: the first song, "Closing In", is a tense, heavy song, with heavy guitars and dramatic vocals, typical of the band. "Cell" is another terrific song, with haunting melodies, calm but very sinister atmosphere, and great experimentation and performance by the female vocalist. "Generally More Worried...." is another masterpiece, the longest and most distorted song of the album. Some passages here are unforgettable, the vocals are sublime. Awesome song. "Path Of The Righteous" is another one of my favorites, a great intro, great, dark melody, awesome experimentation and arrangements. "Titan Transcendence" is the last great song. Here the arrangements are what really make the song so amazing.

The rest of the songs are all good, but not as much worth mentioning as these above.

An excellent addiction to any prog or metal, but be prepared to be overflowed by darkness.