H.L.
Although DARKWOODS MY BETROTHED did not belong to my favourites back in the 90s I was curious about the new album, like most of the time when a band from these glorious days returns. And what a strong comeback it became! "Angel of Carnage Unleashed" presents an inspired, harsh and wild melodic black metal attack. The powerful songs are multi-faceted, offering several vocal styles from demonic screams to angelic female layers, atmospheric keyboards, and an organic, transparent and powerful sound.
Favorite track: Black Fog and Poison Wind.
After 23 years of silence, the Finnish cult black metallers and pioneers of the scene DARKWOODS MY BETROTHED mark their long-awaited comeback with a hard-hitting new offering, Angel of Carnage Unleashed, to be released on November 12, 2021 via Napalm Records. The old horde from the original 1993 line-up has rejoined forces, now augmented by Tuomas Holopainen as a full member of the band and Kai Hahto (both Nightwish) as session drummer. Holopainen had already been featured as a session keyboardist on all previous albums.
Founded in 1993 in Kitee, Finland, DARKWOODS MY BETROTHED quickly gained a cult status in the black metal underground. In 1995, they released their debut album, Heirs of the Northstar, followed by the sophomore album Autumn Roars Thunder (1996) and its sequel Witch-Hunts (1998). Shortly after the release of the third album, the pagan flame of DARKWOODS MY BETROTHED became but a fleeting glimpse in the nocturnal darkness of Eastern Finland. But it never faded away completely. Now the primeval Northern force is back with Angel of Carnage Unleashed.
Angel of Carnage Unleashed sets free a unique blend of brutal, fast driven black metal and epic anthems, where eerie screams merge with heroic clean vocals, monumental choirs and majestic keyboards along with gory stories of famine, war, plague and the inescapable brutality of Finland’s nature in the characteristic DARKWOODS MY BETROTHED style!
The opener “Name the Dead” sets off with atmospheric organ tunes but leaves no scope for weakness, as only a few seconds later storming drums, aggressive riffs and raging growls set the stage for everything that is about to come: brutal soundscapes spliced with epic accents! The second track ""In Evil, Sickness and in Grief"" pierces through the core with a poisoning vocal attack and contrasting operatic female background layers. “Murktide and Midnight Sun” marks some folk and Viking reminiscence with its clean and catchy vocal presentation, grand choirs and mystic atmosphere, followed by the heavily stomping “You Bitter Source of Sorrow” and “Where We Dwell” with its haunting, all-consuming keyboard passages. “In Thrall to Ironskull's Heart” showcases the multifaceted character of DARKWOODS MY BETROTHED with an almost balladic start, which evolves into an uptempo epic journey into the Battle of Napue (1714). The title of the penultimate track “Massacre” conveys the track’s musical direction with precision: expect in-your-face blastbeats and gory lyrics. The final song “Black Fog and Poison Wind” unleashes a sonic monster once more, combining aggression, haunting soundscapes and evil melodies, before Angel of Carnage Unleashed ends with the tunes of a soundtrack-like outro.
The new full-length contains eight songs, written by the three musicians who founded the band in 1993: Pasi Kankkunen, Jouni Mikkonen and Teemu Kautonen (with substantial creative inputs from the fourth member Tuomas Holopainen). The lyrics are based on the human history of the Great Northern War of 1700-1721: how Finns experienced the many manifestations of the Angel of Carnage, sent by God to punish them for their sins. On August 30, 1721, the Treaty of Uusikaupunki ended the Great Northern War and put the Angel of Carnage to rest. 300 years later she is to be unleashed again - more vicious than ever!
Darkwoods My Betrothed was founded in 1993 in Kitee, Finland by Pasi Kankkunen, Teemu Kautonen and Jouni
Mikkonen.
Their pioneering work in black and epic metal brought them cult status worldwide. The band released two demo tapes and three full-length albums 1993-1998.
After a long break, the band finally started writing material for the fourth studio album in 2020....more
supported by 20 fans who also own “Angel Of Carnage Unleashed”
Masterful use of acoustic passages and synth stuff. This is definitely my favorite black metal-dungeon synth kinda album I've found recently. Each track flows into the next so well, I cannot recommend it enough. Perri
supported by 20 fans who also own “Angel Of Carnage Unleashed”
The atmosphere on this record is amazing dark and beautiful almost spiritual at some points and crushing at others every song gave me goosebumps at some point vaguy22
supported by 18 fans who also own “Angel Of Carnage Unleashed”
A Pagan black metal masterpiece.
Folk and black metal elements fuse into one extremely catchy and awe inspiring album. This band does not disappoint from all the high praise sent it's way. Abyssius Murkraken
supported by 18 fans who also own “Angel Of Carnage Unleashed”
What an impressive piece of black metal. This one-man hurricane is pure art. Sgah‘gahsowáh creates an haunting atmosphere. He puts so much soul in his music. Sælzer Bub