IN THE WOODS... are back with their sixth full-length release, "Duversum", released in November of 2022, followed by five full-length releases.

Before kicking things off with IN THE WOODS... review - The sixth album by "In The Woods..." won't surprise you if you still sigh for previous albums, "Heart of the Ages" (1995), "Omnio" (1997), "Strange in Stereo" (1999), "Pure" (2016), and "Cease the Day" (2018), - some ways "Diversum" is noticeably different from its predecessor - a significant line-up change happened last year (2021) - their former vocalist James Fogarty quit the job, now they found an adequate replacement with Bernt Fjellestad of ex-HAUNTED HOLLOW/ex-SCORNBATH. So, what does this mean for the new album "Diversum"?

The first song I like to discuss is "A Wonderful Crisis", which is the fifth track on the album, where the album opens upon the listener with a spoken audio clip -follows suit with warm melodic riffage, slow drum strikes and vocals -follow suit with a transition to a harsher soundscape/atmosphere and driven instrumental input... - breathtakingly beautiful piece. The next song I'd like to discuss is the seventh song, "Master of None", which welcomes with this clean acoustic, warm drum strikes and clean singing - before breaking a musical structure bridged between aggression, melodic and pianissimo to fortissimo moments -all convenient place with perfection.

Moving on to the following final songs for discussion is the six-minute opening piece "The Cowards Way", which opens the whole piece to dream-like status with flowing, warm melodic riffs, drum patterns and clean singing (again) beautiful transitions of inviting the listener ears with a death-doom/gothic soundscape/atmosphere of the '90s -the soaring clean vocals and the transition of harsh screams merging with the instrumental score -making the whole piece epic and majestic. And finally, the last piece for discussion is the closing piece, "Your Dark", -which opens with a warm instrumental of the guitar and drums -following suit with the whole piece bridged between either soaring, calm epic, dark, melodic and progressive...

"Duversum" and the meaning of the new album? -the result is that "Duversum" is an empathetic combination of tint-post-black metal, heavy metal and Gothic Metal, and their new singing Bernt Fjellestad pulls off a great job - delivering and providing the listener's ears with a strong and well-arranged release -that's melancholic, depressive, progressive, dreamy atmospheres, epic, melodic, harmonious beauty and groove... yet captures the abyss of darkness and despair. At the same time, "Duversum" gives the listener's ears a solid (emotional) and well-arranged composed piece of art/music and instrumental/vocals - all perfectly fit together with perfection. Not only will the music and atmosphere of the music capture the heart of the listener -the composition of the guitar work consisting of pure crafty, progressive, and yet heavy nature, with some sharp Black Metal-ish riffs, flowing rhythmic drums strikes, while Bernt Fjellestad (again) consist of soaring clean vocals and a transition to harsh screams will sure win/capture the heart of the listener -either their old fans of IN THE WOODS... or new to their music? This album and the new vocalist have won me over - I enjoyed this release.

In my opinion, "Duversum" is a solid release with no surprise, "Duversum" is a memorable piece of work and pushes the atmosphere of Gothic metal within this release and their music while keeping some traits of their avant-garde/post and progressive musical spectrum. I promise that this release or the band's new singer won't disappoint you. At the same time, if you're aware of Bernt Fjellestad's vocal work -this is for you -not to be missed.
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