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VOID OF SLEEP “The Abyss Into Which We All Have To Stare”
VOID OF SLEEP “The Abyss Into Which We All Have To Stare”
By Dark Starr
This is such an intriguing album. I went back and forth on whether to consider it progressive rock or heavy metal. Ultimately I decided that the artsy and unique angles were strong enough to put it under prog, but it clearly fits under metal, too. Whatever you call this, though, it’s compelling music that is quite unique. I really like this album and the band’s doomy sound so much.
Trippy sound effects and atmospherics make up the opening instrumental piece titled “Dark Gift.” “Omens From Nothingness” seems like a continuation of the previous piece. It’s dark and driving, but also mellow. It is very much art music. The vocals come in late and bring another layer. This has a real shoegaze kind of vibe to it. It’s also so cool. It gradually gets more rocking. Then around the halfway point it turns more metal and really powers out. Yet there are still proggy tendencies over the top of the arrangement. Around the five-minute mark it drops to just a guitar in a mode that reminds me a little of “Pictures of Matchstick Men.” The rest of the band eventually returns as this drives forward. The vocals get pretty extreme as this drives onward. Some particularly bombastic and heavy instrumental doom metal takes over as the cut heads toward its closing.
Keyboards start “Misfortune Teller.” A killer metal jam with a pretty art rock arrangement emerges from there. It is fast paced and a little like what you might get if you merged doom metal with KING CRIMSON. It shifts to more of a raw and extreme metal mode for a time. The track just keeps evolving as it works through different sections. It is so cool and extremely heavy.
On the one hand there is an artsy, moody darkness to “Lullaby of Woe.” On the other, it’s decidedly driving heavy metal. It is amazing stuff. I really love the moody mellower section mid-track. There is a spoken voice over the top that adds an almost spooky, trippy vibe. There is a spacey kind of vibe as this track grows upward and outward. It turns louder and heavy as it continues, but then, after that movement works through, it drops back down to mellower, artsy vibes to eventually take the track to its ending.
Moody prog merges with more metallic things as “From An Unborn Mother” gets underway. The cut continues to evolve and grow from there. It has a lot of class built into it. It is more of a straight-line tune than some of the others here are. It has lot of charm and style. It doesn’t get as driving as some of the rest do. It does have some cool jamming later that really merges a moody dark prog sound with metal. The sound on it becomes other-worldly at times, again evoking comparisons to KING CRIMSON. That jam is among the best musical passages of the whole disc and is purely amazing. The saxophone on the number really adds something special. The tune gets into some driving, more purely metal stuff further down the road, bringing the doom fully to bear. That movement ends the track.
Artsy elements and metal merge on the hard rocker titled “Phantoms of Nihil.” It has a great driving sound built into it. The cut gets more purely metal for the entrance of the vocals. It’s still tastefully off-kilter, though. We get some extreme metal vocals and extremely heavy stuff built into it later. Yet, even then there are hints of KING CRIMSON like things at the heart of this beast. It drops out into a different, much proggier jam. A sample that seems like it is from a lecture is heard over the top of that. It works back out into the song proper further down the road to eventually take it out.
Echoey guitar textures get this “Of A Demon In My View” going. After a time percussion joins. That eventually shifts to more of a metallic jam, but it remains sans vocals. The cut turns heavier and more driving from there for the entrance of the vocals. It is still artsy, but also combines shoegaze with doom metal. The cut continues to evolve before it’s eventually over. It really does occupy the space between metal and more artsy stuff quite well.
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