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Album Review – Vøidwomb / Spiritual Apotheosis (2024)

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Deliver your soul to this nine-track immersive Black Metal experience that will guide you through the inherent utter darkness of human condition and the cathartic search for enlightenment.

“SIC ITUR AD ASTRA”

On the shores of Portugal, deep in the north of the country, a creature lurks in the shadow. Forged in the fires of Barroselas, Viana do Castelo in 2019, Vøidwomb are a Black Metal quintet who’s back to the light after three years in the shades with their first full-length opus, titled Spiritual Apotheosis. Mixed and mastered by Diogo Santana at Noise Portrait Studios, with a cover painting by prolific painter Daniel Hermosilla of Nox Fragor Art, the follow-up to their debut EP Altars of Cosmic Devotion is a record about understanding darkness and sacrificing self to reach transcendence, a nine-track immersive Black Metal experience that will guide you through the inherent utter darkness of human condition and the cathartic search for enlightenment, all carefully brought into being by vocalist M.S.Vøid, guitarists Lord and Fractal, bassist F.S.Void, and drummer Noctvs.

Ominous and grim from the very first second, the extended intro Exordium will darken the skies before the band begins their vile black mass in Metempsychosis, featuring guest vocals by Diogo Santana (Fustilarian, Necrobode, Raw Decimating Brutality), offering us all five minutes of absolute darkness and hatred spearheaded by the Black Metal beats by Noctvs, while M.S.Vøid distills his venomous gnarls nonstop together with Diogo. Black Putrescence feels even more primeval and demonic than the opening track, with the guitars by Lord and Fractal piercing our damned souls mercilessly; whereas Liberation keeps the sulfur flowing majestically in the album, with the vociferations by M.S.Vøid matching perfectly with the massive, Stygian sounds blasted by his infernal bandmates, flowing like an uncontrolled, vile beast from the underworld until the very end.

The band then offers a cryptic (and way too long) interlude simply titled Interludium, once again blackening our minds and souls before those Portuguese metallers attack our senses with Vesselvoid, bringing forward seven minutes of sheer despair and void, with M.S.Vøid roaring from the depths of the underworld while F.S.Void and Noctvs sound thunderous with their respective bass and drums, resulting in a lecture in Black and Death Metal by the band. Then the atmosphere switches from the epicness of longer tunes to the violence of a short and devastating one titled Azoth, where the entire band sounds evil and tight during its less than three minutes of savagery, with of course Noctvs sounding beyond brutal on drums. Lastly, they blast our ears with another six-minute feast of Black and Death Metal entitled Coagulation, with their strident riffs and rumbling bass generating a menacing atmosphere perfect for M.S.Vøid’s eerie growls and gnarls, morphing into the outro Epilogus, presenting three minutes of desolate passages, grim sounds and tones, and an absolute sense of nothingness.

As mentioned, Vøidwomb will guide you through pitch black darkness in their excellent new album, and you can get to know more about such promising name of the current Portuguese scene by following them on Facebook and on Instagram, by streaming more of their eerie creations on Spotify or on any other streaming service, and above all that, by purchasing Spiritual Apotheosis from the Avantgarde Music’s BandCamp page, from Sound Cave, or by clicking HERE. In other words, let the Black Metal darkly crafted by Vøidwomb in Spiritual Apotheosis reach deep inside your rotten soul, joining them in darkness for all eternity. And so we go to the stars.

Best moments of the album: Metempsychosis, Vesselvoid and Azoth.

Worst moments of the album: Interludium.

Released in 2024 Avantgarde Music

Track listing
1. Exordium (Intro) 3:53
2. Metempsychosis 5:09
3. Black Putrescence 4:36
4. Liberation 4:51
5. Interludium 3:29
6. Vesselvoid 7:04
7. Azoth 2:41
8. Coagulation 6:19
9. Epilogus (Outro) 3:02

Band members
M.S.Vøid – vocals
Lord – guitars
Fractal – guitars
F.S.Void – bass, backing vocals
Noctvs – drums

Guest musician
Diogo Santana – vocals on “Metempsychosis”

Album Review – Hyperomm / Transcendence (2019)

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Dealing with otherworldly, cultural ideas, thoughts and systematic overviews of postmortem life, the sophomore album by this one-man Russian army will teach you a lesson in Melodic Death Metal.

Founded in 2016 in Moscow, Russia by multi-instrumentalist, sound producer and designer Anton Trubin, Melodic Death Metal one-man project Hyperomm has just unleashed upon humanity his sophomore full-length album entitled Transcendence, a follow-up to his 2017 full-length opus From Nothing to Eternity and his 2016 debut EP …Death, once again highly influenced by iconic names of the scene such as Children Of Bodom, Kalmah, Omnium Gatherum and In Flames, but bringing to our avid ears Anton’s own fresh and more technical twist. Featuring a dark cover art created by Anton himself, and with lyrics written by Demether Grail (from bands like Arcanorum Astrum, Grailight, Skylord and Zmey Gorynich), Transcendence is about otherworldly, cultural ideas, thoughts and systematic overviews of postmortem life, thematically devoted to various forms of life after death and dealing with the eternal existence of the soul.

“Transcendence was recorded in my home studio. The process itself was different from traditional bands because I use MIDI drums. The sound of drums is the foundation of a good metal mix, so sampling drums is one of the most important parts of my work on the overall sound. I start by recording one track and mixing it at once. First I get a sound that suits me, after that, when I compose and record songs, I hear almost the final result at the same time. It helps me with the arrangements,” commented Trubin on his creative process, also adding a few comments about the overall sound of the album.  “I tried to achieve a more aggressive sound than on the first album. The sound of drums is leaning more towards a modern metal sound, but there is still a lot of classic melodic death metal in the guitars and melodies. Many use the drop tuning, but I’m playing in standard tuning. I’m trying to do the hard sound without using any low tuned guitars, but by composing good riffs.”

Portal is in fact an intro that’s not just an intro, but a short and sweet display of modern and melodic metal music by Anton presenting his piercing shredding and roars, setting the stage for Weighing of the Heart, where Anton definitely feels like a full-bodied band right from the start, with his scorching riffs and damned beats living up to the legacy of bands like In Flames and Soilwork, not to mention the whimsical keys in the background bringing more balance to the music. And an epic and symphonic intro explodes into sheer speed, rage and progressiveness in Metempsychosis, an amazing display of Anton’s dexterity as a multi-instrumentalist showcasing poetic lyrics darkly vociferated by our one-man army (“On dying the soul flies off / Into the original world / Into the aerial trough / And then reborn on the mold”).

Sounding closer to what In Flames are doing nowadays, but of course with Anton’s own personal touch, Patala is another feast of classic riffs and pounding beats perfect for breaking your neck headbanging, followed by the excellent Eternal Feast, where it’s interesting to witness how the keys make the whole song sound and feel very futuristic and experimental, while the other instruments bring forward traditional metal elements, resulting in what’s perhaps Anton’s closest creation to classic Progressive Metal. In Charnel Wraith, a shredding extravaganza supported by old school drums and ethereal keys, we face more of Anton’s wicked lyrics (“Without goodness your black life was dwelled / You die in torment, eaten by demons / And thrown into the grave without farewell / Tormented self-gnawing genie”), whereas Illusory State is very vibrant and groovy from start to finish thanks to the amazing job done by Anton on bass and drums, exhaling melody and intricacy and exploding into a sonic havoc at times, all spiced up by a beautiful keys solo by guest Sergey Shulzhenko (from Sunless Rise).

In Vortex of Hell, Anton shreds his stringed axe in great fashion while at the same time hammering his drums mercilessly in a fusion of old school and modern-day Melodic Death Metal that will certainly please all fans of the genre; then after the wicked instrumental bridge Transcendence, Anton returns for one final blast of his hybrid of modernity and rage in The Story, once again presenting a solid balance between heavy riffs and stylish keys, with the music flowing as smoothly and detailed as possible until the very end. In addition, some versions of the album will contain two sick bonus tracks, the first being Living in a Cage, offering the listener over five minutes of Hyperomm’s trademark sound, while in 3000 we’re treated to a pop song by Ukrainian singer and DJ Ivan Dorn, from the 2014 album Randorn (check out the original one HERE), turned into ass-kicking metal music.

It’s truly impressive how only one musician was capable of crafting a multi-layered and thrilling album like Transcendence, which is available for a full listen on YouTube and on Spotify, and on sale from the project’s own BandCamp page or from several other locations by clicking HERE, all by himself, and such humongous amount of hard work, focus, talent and tenacity must be praised by all of us metalheads by following Anton and his Hyperomm on Facebook and on VKontakte. Having already released two outstanding albums and one EP, there’s nothing but a brilliant path ahead of Anton armed with his multiple instruments, positioning him not only as an example of what DIY is really all about, but also as a role model for any musician from the underground metal scene, with Transcendence being the perfect depiction of how powerful the music by lone rangers like Anton can sound.

Best moments of the album: Metempsychosis, Eternal Feast and Vortex of Hell.

Worst moments of the album: The Story.

Released in 2019 Independent

Track listing
1. Portal 1:53
2. Weighing of the Heart 4:30
3. Metempsychosis 3:20
4. Patala 3:53
5. Eternal Feast 4:04
6. Charnel Wraith 3:49
7. Illusory State 5:01
8. Vortex of Hell 5:19
9. Transcendence 1:30
10. The Story 4:15

Bonus tracks
11. Living in a Cage 5:11
12. 3000 (Ivan Dorn cover) 2:56

Band members
Anton Trubin – vocals, guitars, sampling, drums

Guest musician
Sergey Shulzhenko – keys solo on “Illusory State”