In the Woods… are a Norwegian progressive metal band and this is their seventh album.
I thoroughly enjoyed 2022’s Diversum, so was pleased when Otra appeared on the horizon. Across 47 minutes In the Woods… deliver a richly engaging album, full of textured and high quality songcraft.
Otra is an album that invites you in with a warm embrace, and keeps you close as you lose yourself deeply. It’s awash with shades of colour and melody, ensuring you remain immersed in its well-developed world until the end.
Otra is layered with synths and keyboards, streaked with melodic depth, and ripe with absorbing atmosphere. The songs are well-composed, with the band seeming to know exactly what they want to do. They certainly have the tools to accomplish their goals, as evidenced across Otra‘s seven compelling tracks.
The songs contain a personable blend of melodic, progressive, Gothic, and post-black metal touches and influences. Each one is a finely detailed landscape ready to be explored, offering both beauty and intrigue. Sometimes intimate and delicate, sometimes epic and soaring, Otra is such a sumptuous record to dive into, you won’t want to return to reality anytime soon.
The latest from In the Woods… is an easy album to enjoy. With the melodic hooks, atmospheric character, and impressive clean singing that Otra has, it’s an effortlessly satisfying way to spend 47 minutes. Fans of bands such as Amorphis, Borknagar, In Vain, Iotunn, Soilwork, etc. should definitely check this out.
Very highly recommended.
Wonderbox Metal 