'By the time you read this, I will already be dead' starts one of my favorite songs from the album 'Woods IV: The Green Album' by Woods of Ypres. That deep baritone voice of doom describing utter pain that leads to death belongs to David Gold, the founder and former vocalist of the band. Former, not because he left the band, but because he left the plane of the living on December 21, 2011, due to a tragic car accident.
I am writing this not because I was acquainted with David Gold, but because I was a spiritual follower of the concept that he represented, which is a concept I believe may have died with him. He was a man who believed in uplifting the human spirit through musical expression, and although his music constantly emanated an aura of doom, I could not help but feel that I had a kindred spirit who understood that pain, both physical and mental, is not something that can be removed easily and that it can be a burning lump of mercury stuck in the pit of your psyche, haunting your every waking moment.
I had quite a hard time around 2009 with various personal problems, and the song 'Everything I touch turns to gold then to coal' seemed to be an epitome of what I was going through. The absolutely simplicity of the lyrics sans any level of abstraction (and a lot of Woods of Ypres critics see this as a bad thing) made the song as real to me as anything I have experienced. Woods of Ypres, on most days, was what helped me get out of bed in the morning without wishing I would just die and be done with it.
David Gold died the day before the release of their latest album, 'Woods V: Grey Skies and Electric Light', which ironically contains a song titled 'Kiss My Ashes (Goodbye)'. Listening to that song was like a direct knife to the heart for me. It is the pain of promise that can never be realized, beauty in sadness that can never be achieved, now that David Gold is gone.
I wish the remaining members of Woods of Ypres all the best, may you be able to pick up the pieces and carry on.
Wherever you are, David Gold, whatever happens to us after we leave this life, I hope you are doing well. Your name will never be forgotten by those who were depressed and alone and were soothed by your vocalization of pain. You were their voice when they were struck mute by sadness. You have left, but the pain is everlasting.
