For some reason, I spend a lot of weeknights lying in bed, obviously high, watching videos about planets in our solar system and indulging in the details of these bizarre places that no one inhabits. Sometimes that takes me to galaxies beyond our own, learning about planets that none of us ever will visit and could be the home to who knows what.
When I hear Voidceremony, who are releasing their third album “Abditum,” I hear sounds that feel like they would be fitting accompanying these weird journeys I take into the stars. Their progressively minded death metal is alien and formless, like something that floated into our world from elsewhere, trying to shape hearts and minds. The band—guitarist/vocalist Wandering Mind (aka Garrett Johnson), guitarist The Archonoclast (Jayson McGehee), drummer Dylan Marks (Atheist-live), and their dual-headed bass beast of The Great Righteous Destroyer (Damon Good of Mournful Congregation, Stargazer, Cauldron Black Ram) and The Absent Deity (Ben Ricci)—can wow you with their finesse and creativity that they meld with their dark art, but they do so in a compact, abbreviated manner as compared to most in this sub-genre. In just under 30 minutes, your brain is tangled and your limbs are destroyed, leaving you wondering what strange force has overtaken you.
“Intro – Inevitable Entropy” opens mystically, injecting a fantasy element, synth and strings combining and moving toward “Veracious Duality” the immediately pummels. The playing is tricky and immersive, guitars snarling and dizzying, roars punishing as soot smears your vision. The playing grows more propulsive, the rubbery bass jarring, a progressive assault reaching across and pulling you into the fray, ending on a frantic note. “Seventh Ephemeral Aura” has riffs trampling, vocals retching, and the tempo racing forward with energy. The playing trudges and crunches as the soloing spills over into a new dimension, feeling alien and strange. The bass vibrates the earth as leads sprawl, and everything comes to an adventurous end. “Dissolution” is a quick instrumental built with humidity, jazzy guitars, and a path that seems to meander into time.
“Despair of Temporal Existence” is a brief, yet brutal beast, a death attack that delivers ferocious growls, bass trampling, and a deeper foray into abject ugliness. “Failure of Ancient Wisdoms” has the guitars confounding, fiery leads taking control, and the band digging in its collective claws, crushing with doses of speed. Atmosphere is infused as the band hits a start/stop lurch, and then fluid leads emerge and pull everything into oblivion. “Silence Which Ceases All Minds” is violent, instantly mashing with conviction, the leads lathering while exploring the outer edges of the universe. The playing electrifies more forcefully, punishing as the leads go off, and a channeled rage ends this riveting instrumental. “Gnosis of Ambivalence” blisters, dealing in speed and tenacity, growls carving into the ground, a tempered pace taking over before detonating. The guitar work blazes as the pace jolts, howls snarl, and a battering ram crashes into your chest. Closer “Outro – Elegy of Finality” brings an elegant, whirring finish to this record, bringing jangling keys and a frosty ambiance that rests deep in the cosmos.
Voidceremony manage to combine the ideas, insane ability, and creativity most bands of this ilk would stretch over 70 minutes into a compact journey that’s over in a little less than 30 minutes on “Abditum.” This is a real mind-melter, but it’s one that won’t leave you sifting through a million twists and turns to get to the point, fun as that may be. This is progressive death in digestible chunks that are just as satisfying and don’t leave behind bloat.
For more on the band, go here: https://voidceremony.bandcamp.com/
To buy the album, go here: https://www.20buckspin.com/voidceremony
For more on the label, go here: https://www.20buckspin.com/
Meat Mead Metal 