Metal Underground.com

Rising from a one man project to a full band with label backing, Woe has come a long way since debut full-length “A Spell For the Death of Man.” Continuing the evolution on second album “Quietly, Undramatically,” Woe now pens another chapter in the story of U.S. black metal, keeping up many of the time-honored traditions, while playing with a few new elements.

As far as the base sound goes, Woe is still black metal of the epically kvlt variety. All the instruments can be heard, but the production is kept fuzzier for an old-school feel, and the vocals are, of course, pushed down in the mix. The previous album stripped out the Scandinavian influences, and this one goes even further by adding in some unexpected extras that are very American indeed. The endless blast beats and relentless screams are propped up this time around by the surprise appearance of thrash and traditional metal guitar solos and backing riffs.

These non-black metal elements appear on nearly every song “Withdrawal” has to offer, but make no mistake, this is still bleak and raw to the max. The more energetic guitar tones are essentially window dressing and not serious changes in the primary sound, even if they do add an interesting extra layer of atmosphere. In addition, a few other plot twists are written into this new tale of Woe, like the acoustic intro to “All Bridges Burned,” or the punk aesthetic and unexpected clean vocals on “Song Of My Undoing.”

As a whole, the album stands up well in the Woe discography and shows a band trying new things without losing its base identity. Those few missteps present (“Exhausted,” for instance, lives up to its name via unnecessary repetition) can really be overlooked based on the overall high quality, as Woe continues to keep the old-school alive, while also exploring more modern sounds.