Customer Reviews

The Light, the Dark and the Endless Knot

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4 star:		(2)
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2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Released in November 2001, this album follows Waylander's 1998 debut. The new album was delayed by the band's disagreements or problems with their former label -- but the wait was worth it. You like melodic black metal? You'll like this one.

The Light packs a potent, if not quite explosive, black metal punch, with crunchy guitar riffs, a solid bass line, varied beats, and well-timed melodic breaks. Lead guitar solos reminded me of Iron Maiden's Adrian Smith at 3/4th speed. The vocals come in a standard black/death growl, or a mournful, plaintive call that bring to mind ages past and eons long lost. The tin whistle, a traditional Irish instrument, integrates with the blood & thunder power metal surprisingly well. The songwriters didn't especially borrow traditional Celtic rhythms, but there's still an aura of misty heather mornings, vengeful gods, and adventurous quests.

Amazon allows only four or five stars. I would give 4-1/2 stars to this CD. I didn't give it five stars because I would've liked to see them work with more Celtic/Irish traditional influences, a la Inkubus Sukkubus. That may be the next step up for Waylander.

If you get as far as the lyrics, they'll serve as a good introduction to little-known heroes & pantheons outside the Greek & Roman heritages that are now overdone & reduced to parody figures in lousy commercials.

Waylander rocks! I'll be watching for more releases from this band.

Wow. Waylander is certainly a ways away from the competition, with thier tight, competent songwriting, meaningful and positive lyrics, and varying vocal styles. The battle line is delineated, in the new order of folk influenced Metal, it is no longer excusable to churn out hundreds of Cannibal Corpse clones with no new sound or lyrical content.

Waylander explores the domains of Irish "mythology" looking at both aspects of nature, the light AND the dark, as most metal bands dwell incessantly on the dark and deny the lights existence. In the first track "Balor of the Evil Eye" which refers to a primevil fomor, analogous to jotun/giant/asura and his battle with the tuatha de dannan, ie the children of Danu, or Anu (as referred to on the second track). This depth of insight is unmatched by any other modern musical genre, and it is here that the true genius of melding folk themes and instruments with traditional heavy/black metal instrumentals and styles becomes apparent.

Some reviewers elsewhere have considered this to be an inferior release to thier excellent debut "Reawkening Pride Once Lost" and in some ways this is true, such as the lack of gaelic lyrics like the classic "King of the Fairies", or the sometimes comical sounding lyrics. But this is in fact due to the maturing of Waylander, they have left the more folkier influences to countrymates Cruachan, while focusing on more hard edged themes.

And it is something they do very well, this band sounds very unique, with a very palpable feel that is not quite celtic folk like Cruachan, but certainly its much more melodic than run of the mill, and its very distinct from the commong scandinavian varieties like Einherjer. As for the vocals, sometimes they are lowpitched midpaced and hoarse, other times fastpaced and even more hoarse, a few high midpaced screams but never any silly satanic black metal high screaming. And that, my friends is what really sums up this band and subgenre, its genuine, with no need for silly posturing and adoption of demonic lyrics.

Waylander's debut album, Reawakening Pride Once Lost, was a very interesting, and very awesome, brutal Celtic encounter. It mixed heavy metal with jig-ful Celtic elements almost flawlessly, while other Celtic metal bands seem to have too much of one and not enough of the other (like Cruachan, who are great, but metalheads would complain that it's too much Celtic and not enough metal, which I do agree with). It was energetic, epic, and definitely listenable. The same cannot be said for this album.
What this album is, especially compared to their first, is a long, drawn out, INCREDIBLY BORING, metal album with some tin whistle blows throughout the songs. The whistles are good on this album, but far too slow and boring.
Was this Waylander's attempt at "maturing" with their music, because if it is, I'd rather they had not "matured". I'd understand why this album is the way it is if the band members were 60 or 70 years old, but that is not the case.
I understand that good bands usually change with every album, but I don't find that as an excuse for such a boring CD.
I advise that you buy/download Waylander's first album if you're into folk metal, but even if you have the cash, do not even THINK about buying into this.

Waylander's debut album was a decent folk/black metal release that got some spins in my C.D. player (and still does), but with their irritating sophomore release 'Light, Dark, and the Endless Knot', I believe that they deserve a firing range. Calling themselves "black metal for intellectuals and warriors", Waylander have told one of the biggest lies in metal. When I purchased this disc I was so angry at the promotional team that came up with that. This is not black metal, this is not intellectual, and this is definitely not aggressive. Talk about false advertisement. I gave it another listen after then initial shock wore off, but it was still just as bad if not worse. The shrill sound of the vocals (of both the "clean" and "dirty" vocals) wound me up to no end, much, much worse than their debut. The droning guitars tried hard to create the ice-cold sound of traditional black metal but fail miserably. Even the parts where they try hard (and I mean really hard) to sound like Mayhem were boring and worthless. The saving grace of this album that softens the blow was the amazing Celtic/poetic lyrics that make for a great read. But I bought this for the music, if I wanted poetry I would have purchased a poetry book. The drumming was not terrible, but certainly not great, it gave the songs some tangibility. Again, it does not save the album. "After the Fall" is this album's most heinous atrocity. It would have been more fun the have a knife driven in my spine. This album is not salvageable, if you want some decent folk/black metal music try Waylander's debut release or anything by Storm. Along with Wurdulak's last two albums and this, there seems to be a running trend about how bands that should be good seriously s uck.

ALTHOUGH THE GREAT BAND CRUACHAN SUPPORT THIS BAND. I FELT IT WAS A REAL DISAPPONTMENT. I DO ENJOY THE CELTIC INFLUENCED LYRICS AND THE SINGERS GROWLY VOICE IS GOOD. THE CLEAR VOCALS RUIN IT FOR ME. I'M NOT ONE OF THOSE DEATH METAL GUYS WHO THINKS CLEAR SINGING IS STUPID INFACT I ENJOY GARMS CLEAR VOICE I ALSO REALLY LIKE VINTERSORGS CLEAR VOICE AS WELL AS FENRIS'S. BUT THE SINGER OF WAYLANDER DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO SING CLEAR.