Let us introduce you to Dr.Witch (bass/vocals), Mr.Void (drums/vocals) and Sgt.Doom (guitars), three bearded Belgians who in their own words "Unleash a fury of pure desolate, nightmarish Doom Metal, mixed with ferocious Sludge, atmospheric Post-Rock and experimental Drone", and do this under the collective name of Voidian.
Now the term "post-rock" does have a reputation for sending prospective listeners running for the hills fearing that they are going to be subjected to periods of introspective navel gazing while listening to long passages of ambient noodling, well much of that apprehension can be allayed as although there is plenty of instrumental noodling to be found on the bands debut release "Through Eyes of the Flame"(Polderrecords) 97.9% of it is far from being ambient! There is no getting away from the fact that Voidian are a band who like to texturize their grooves with elements of calming ambience and unstructured dissonance but they are also a band who like to crunch out a thick reverberating powerchord over a swampy doomic groove, something the band do with pleasing regularity. Add to this mix of post-rock textures and sludgy refrains vocals that range from growled and harsh to clean and throaty and the listener soon comes to the realisation that Voidian are a band who approach "heavy" from a whole different angle from many of their contemporaries. Tangents, those things that lead music away from its root into different areas, abound throughout the five songs that make up "Through Eyes of the Flame" and find Voidian heading off on musical journeys far removed from their point of origin, crunching riffs making way for glistening arpeggios, pummeled drum skins replaced by shimmering cymbals, the band never content to just sit on a groove and stay there, preferring instead to constantly shift their focus onto new horizons and test waters previously uncharted.
Brutal and heavy enough to put a smile on the faces of the sludgers and doomers while complex and intricate enough to please the proggers and post-rockers "Through Eyes of the Flame" is a triumphant debut from a band who, if they remain on this trajectory, are going to evolve into something very special indeed.
Check 'em out …..
© 2020 Frazer Jones
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