According to Castlesy.com, there are five castles in Idaho, and they’re designed to host weddings or offer vacation getaways. In other words, they would crumble if they were besieged, or if they were hit with Weald & Woe’s latest castle metal track “Blood Upon the Blade” from the Idaho group’s upcoming third album Far From the Light of Heaven. Weald & Woe do not entertain the softcore castles found in their home state. Rather, they channel what castles represent; fortitude, scale, and death to all who attempt to overtake their walls. To hear that in action, check out “Blood Upon the Blade” below.
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Normally, sub-sub-subgenres are nuisances instead of apt descriptors, but castle metal fits Weald & Woe like a knight’s britches, getting across how the group combines heavy metal’s pomp with black metal’s stakes. They soar too high for the parameters of black metal while also being too coarse for traditional metal tastes. That’s apparent within the first minute of “Blood Upon the Blade.” Its opening dual guitar melodies sit comfortably within sword and sorcery affairs, then are kicked in the teeth by vocals that wouldn’t sound out of place in a blackgaze project. It’s almost too smooth, though fortunately, Weald & Woe have a rustic touch. They rip melodies from ’80s US power metal with just enough fuzz to tie them to dingy castle cellars. To take it a step further, they match that atmosphere with attitude. There are disgruntled feelings to chew on here, arising from the cocktail of resilience and resignation needed to see your future to its ideal end. Or, it could be because none of the castles are up to snuff for Weald & Woe.
The band comments:
‘Blood’ is a song about the prices we pay to achieve our goals, and on the reverse, the dogged determination it often takes to succeed. Everything comes at a cost; is that cost too much? There is no price too high, no weight too heavy. What pieces of our spirit are we severing in our quests for glory and fame? No mercy! Whatever it takes! It’s a tricky line to walk.
As for Far From the Light of Heaven, it is an album that explores the physical, spiritual and emotional tolls of ambition, and the depths we must reach to find the ‘light’ again.
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Far from the Light of Heaven releases July 4 via Fiadh Productions.
