Metal Storm logo
Wijlen Wij - Wijlen Wij review



Reviewer:
8.0

14 users:
6.71
Band: Wijlen Wij
Album: Wijlen Wij
Style: Funeral doom metal
Release date: June 06, 2007
A review by: Lucas


01. L'anathème
02. Wijlen Wij
03. Offertorium
04. Falling Stars
05. Aware Of The Void
06. Bridges

Wijlen Wij is nothing short of a Funeral Doom All Star band. With members such as Kostas Panagiotou (Pantheïst), Kris Villez (Pantheïst) and Stijn Van Cauter (Until Death Overtakes Me, the abomination that is Beyond Black Void, the list goes on) the term is very suitable. My sincere apologies go to Lawrence Van Haecke by the way, the bass player of Wijlen Wij, as I have no idea who he is. But here's the deal. While a lot of the bands I just mentioned are critically acclaimed and enjoyed worldwide, most of them do nothing for me. So when Wijlen Wij released their début album in '07, I just let it slip by me with total indifference.

And well... I was wrong. But I was right, too. You see, with members such as Kostas and Stijn you just know they will come up with something of high-quality. They know the genre "Funeral Doom" better then anyone and that's the crux. It's just nothing, nothing new. But still, the album is good enough to render criticism of such kind wholly unimportant. The music revolves around these aspects: slow drums, tragically slow riffs with a Beyond Black Void-type of fuzzy droning distortion, deep growls, occasional chanted vocals and elusive synths. And when they do kick the speed up a notch to raise intensity, they pull off the 'deep sea / brooding waters / Chtulhu lurking' thing pretty well.

In the past few years Funeral Doom has exploded to the point where it almost seemed like for every inhabitant of the world there were three or four different projects. And because it expanded so quickly in such little time, a lot of bands lacked heavily in the originality department, as well as simply lacking quality. Cause let's face it, it's not that hard to record a Funeral Doom album. It takes no extreme technical skill, nor does it require vast amounts of money spent on equipment and studios. But to create that suffocating, dense and ominous atmosphere which Funeral Doom is about – that is the difficulty. Wijlen Wij are not the ultimate Funeral Doom band that brings this world to eternal darkness. But they are a high quality act with a damn (gasp!) enjoyable début album and they achieve with ease what the genre set out to create.


Rating breakdown
Performance: 8
Songwriting: 8
Originality: 6
Production: 7





Written on 11.06.2009 by If you're interested in extreme, often emotional and underground music, check out my reviews. I retired from reviewing, but I really used to be into that stuff.


Comments

Comments: 10   Visited by: 102 users
12.06.2009 - 17:32
Marcel Hubregtse
Grumpy Old Fuck
Elite
A very enjoyable album indeed.

Btw stop slagging off Beyond Black Void, they ARE GREAT Just not your cup of tea apparently.
----
Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal

Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight
Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.)
05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996

Loading...
12.06.2009 - 19:22
silenius
You can never get enough of funeral doom^^, nice album, nothing new but very good indeed.
Loading...
12.06.2009 - 20:57
Rating: 8
BitterCOld
The Ancient One
Admin
Will have to check it out if i can unearth a copy.
----
get the fuck off my lawn.

Beer Bug Virus Spotify Playlist crafted by Nikarg and I. Feel free to tune in and add some pertinent metal tunes!
Loading...
12.06.2009 - 21:05
Marcel Hubregtse
Grumpy Old Fuck
Elite
Written by BitterCOld on 12.06.2009 at 20:57

Will have to check it out if i can unearth a copy.

Good luck with that since it is strictly limited to 1000 copies.
But you could of course always try the better doom assorted distros such as psychedoomelic and hellridemusic or thry it via Pantheist website or Stijn van Cauter's website.
----
Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal

Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight
Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.)
05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996

Loading...
13.06.2009 - 02:46
Rating: 8
ß
Problem?
Quite the solid release.
----
My music blog - Updated regularly.
To live is to think - Cicero
Loading...
13.06.2009 - 11:29
Rating: 7
Lucas
Mr. Noise
Elite
Written by BitterCOld on 12.06.2009 at 20:57

Will have to check it out if i can unearth a copy.

I believe it is sold out, but I know Aesthetic Death Records recently dug up a few copies (and gave one of them to me). That'd be your best bet, in my opinion.
----
SLUDGE. DOOM. DEATH. Wait, what?

"The reason I'm running for president is because I can't be Bruce Springsteen." - Barack Obama
Loading...
14.06.2009 - 08:44
TOUGHEST MEMBER
I love both Wijlen Wij and Beyond Black Void. Only thing is that I always mispell the first band name.
Loading...
17.06.2009 - 13:27
Strange nobody mentioned the guitars...
Loading...
14.02.2011 - 22:15
Rating: 8
BitterCOld
The Ancient One
Admin
Written by Lucas on 13.06.2009 at 11:29

Written by BitterCOld on 12.06.2009 at 20:57

Will have to check it out if i can unearth a copy.

I believe it is sold out, but I know Aesthetic Death Records recently dug up a few copies (and gave one of them to me). That'd be your best bet, in my opinion.

weeeeeee Psychedoomelic. got a copy today.
----
get the fuck off my lawn.

Beer Bug Virus Spotify Playlist crafted by Nikarg and I. Feel free to tune in and add some pertinent metal tunes!
Loading...
14.02.2011 - 22:18
Rating: 7
Lucas
Mr. Noise
Elite
Written by BitterCOld on 14.02.2011 at 22:15

Written by Lucas on 13.06.2009 at 11:29

Written by BitterCOld on 12.06.2009 at 20:57

Will have to check it out if i can unearth a copy.

I believe it is sold out, but I know Aesthetic Death Records recently dug up a few copies (and gave one of them to me). That'd be your best bet, in my opinion.

weeeeeee Psychedoomelic. got a copy today.

Awesome.
----
SLUDGE. DOOM. DEATH. Wait, what?

"The reason I'm running for president is because I can't be Bruce Springsteen." - Barack Obama
Loading...

Hits total: 4182 | This month: 1