Blindfolded and Led to the Woods: Nightmare Withdrawals

Here’s the thing: This music is raw and powerful and technical and emotional in ways that will either push you away or give you a means of working through it all. I’m serious. If you are one of the former, then please feel free to walk away. There’s no harm in that. There are tons of bands out there and some of us simply don’t want to spend our time feeling pummeled by so much aggression and raw power. I get it.

But for those of you who find a certain strength in all of this, I think you might find this album pretty great. If you haven’t listened to Blindfolded and Led to the Woods, you’re not alone. The band has been around for ten years, but they aren’t exactly a household name, at least not yet. They play what is basically progressive death metal, even though labels are mostly blown away by the brutal technical assault. What sets this band apart, though, is the way their intensity also carries a deep sense of purpose. They also pour everything into a response to all the fears, challenges, and troubles of the world right now. I’ve sometimes compared music like this to the blues because it finds strength in emotion and then attempts to work through it all. Whether the comparison is apt, I’m not sure, but it’s close enough for me.

Given that the band is based in New Zealand, they are also working through some serious local problems. Christchurch had a terrible span of natural disasters, a terrorist attack, and, of course, the seemingly endless pandemic. There is nothing easy about our times no matter where we live, but this band is acknowledging their national losses in ways that come across effectively. They are also deliberately trying to take their songwriting and performances to the next level. That comes across by what we might call maturity but what we really should just call depth. The music is raw and aggressive, yes, and maybe it could all be dismissed as so much noise. But that would miss the whole point. This is music that is also interested in finding purpose and perspective behind every note. The good news is that it all works beautifully. Tracks like “Black Air� and “Atop the Wings of a Magpie� (featuring Karl Sanders from Nile) are especially strong. I loved the opening mood of “Lucid Visitations,� a mood the band managed to sustain even after things shift to the fast and furious. The title track also stood out. There’s even a rather sweet melody underlying everything there. And be sure not to skip the last track. It's a fiery and spectacular closer and gives us the best sense of this band's strengths.

So, yeah, I would definitely recommend this album to those who want something fiercely energetic and aggressive. You’ll get all of that. But you will also get music that tries to find purpose behind all its raw power.

Track Listing:
1. The Inevitable Fate of the Universe
2. Black Air
3. …and You Will Try to Speak
4. The White of the Eyes
5. Atop the Wings of a Magpie
6. Lucid Visitations
7. Nightmare Withdrawals
8. The Obscured Witness
9. Rorschach and Delirium
10. Sic Mundus Creatus Est

Added: June 28th 2021
Reviewer: Carl Sederholm
Score:
Related Link: Bandcamp Page
Hits: 541
Language: english

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