Black Metal History Month -Void of Hope : "Proof of Existence"

Finland's black metal scene is expanding beyond the raw black metal bands like Horna. It is also cool that depressive black metal is making more of a comeback. It's dark and more emotive than the normal blasting black metal that wants to sound like Darkthrone when even Darkthrone doesn't sound like the band they are trying to imitate anymore. The vocals have a nasty howl. The music carries a very deliberate throb. "Proof of Existence" has a more straightforward drive rooted in rock. These guys are impressive songwriters who use the rage of black metal as a powerful dynamic they climax the songs into, rather than where they begin and end. 

Three songs in there are the 11-minute"The Hollow Hymn" which could have been trimmed down to eight minutes and still got the point across, it's the album's most straightforward droning song so far but still works pretty well for what it is even with the sonic excesses in play. I think it shows where European Black Metal bands differ from American bands when going into this sort of thing as there is little in the way of post-rock trappings. "T.E.T.A" kicks in with stormy aggression after a dramatic interlude provides the build-up. It finds the band lashings out in a manner that conforms more to black metal expectations. 

The last song closes the album with an instrumental. This approach works well due to the fact they have a mournful piano melody flowing from the blitz of the previous song with a sample similar to how it was employed earlier in the album. I like the chord progression on this one as it captures depression well.I will round this up to a 9.5, as it's an album that will likely grow on me it sets the bar for depressive black metal this year.  

pst51