Emptiness : "Nowhere Speaks"

If there is one thing I like in my music, it is darkness, and this band from Belgium continues to scratch that itch. Over the years, they have done it in different ways on 2014's "Nothing but the Whore" that took a more blackened approach, then went goth in 2017 with "Not For Music," and now here we are, splitting the difference between the two with something that carries a hazy throb..The heavily affected vocals sound like the devil commonly does in horror movies. The icy guitar buzzing in the title track finds them in a more black metal space. It can capture melody or jsut hold the creepy tension; either works well. 

They are discordant and angular but still flow like syrupy shadows. Heavily atmospheric, they take a more unsettling approach to being heavy. More of 207's goth grooves bubble up in places. The vocals are more whispers than screams or growled/. There are a few ambient interludes which might have worked better just as intros to songs. Granted "Words to Wind" is already almsot eight and a half minutes long, so maybe that is where they were trying to trim the fat.

 For a metal drummer, there is a great deal of restraint in place, as it patters around more like jazz than looking for something to blast into. It moves through the murk with jazzy grace. Then midway itno the songs, thigns threaten to come to a boil but instead just fade into heavy breathing. It feels like this is where the song would have ended, but no there are still three minutes for them to fade in and slowly build things up. 

If you ever wonderer what it would be like if Tom Waits made a goth album well, "When the Whole Arrives' is a pretty good guess. Double bass drums to come in and try to anchor the song, but it's abstact arragnement has already soared off. The guitar is more defined on "The Clash of Forces"". It carries more drive and conforms more to metal expectations. Then it ebbs down to less tangible concepts for 'the Next in Line." It takes over half the song to build it up into something with movement.. It's almost shoegaze, but with much darker shoes being gazed upon.

There is a more bubbling chaos for "All For Nthing". Some of the issue is the mix as the guitar are getting a little song, unless they are given the space to ring out.. By the three minute makr it builds to blast beat pattering under it all. Reveb heavy sung vocals also join in to flaot off with them into the storm clouds. I will give this album an 8, it captures a nice mood, but could be more song-focused

Out July 17th on Season of Mist. 

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