Death metal musicians approaching their genre like jazz musicians is like shoegaze-inspired bands trying to incorporate atmospheric black metal into their textures. It should work, but it seldom does. Maybe Voidceremony can reverse the fortunes of those that try. Album number three is a mind-bending odyssey that demands repeat listens from those who refuse to be beaten by its complexity.
Plucked guitars and choral keyboards set the scene for a slimy onslaught of dissonant chords in ‘Veracious Duality’. Imagine Morbid Angel returning with a new sound inspired by Gorguts and presented in an off-meter paradigm. The surprising thing is how enjoyable it is to follow the twist and turns of the rhythms. Growled vocals play off the swirling guitars and circular bass patterns as the drums find a way through it all with sheer brutality. You can tell that Atheist sticksman, Dylan Marks, is part of this extreme metal-jazz odyssey. It’s no exaggeration to say this is more complex than a Dillinger Escape Plan jamming session.
How do you write music like ‘Seventh Ephemeral Aura’? On the surface, the answer is to force blast beats and start-stop rhythms onto marauding guitars and prog basslines. Add in the gory vocals of Garrett Johnson and you have a vision of death metal that Cynic used to believe in. As a listener, you might find your attention being tugged in different directions. A tremolo riff here, a bass fill there, a tempo-switch in the middle of a groove, a surprise mid-range power chord among the jazz fingering – let your mind be led to the unknown.
Perhaps the biggest surprise is the semi-conventional death metal assault of ‘Despair of Temporal Existence’, which lasts for only one minute and forty-two seconds and sounds like the devil licking his lips at the sight of a virgin. How loud is the bass in the mix? Admittedly, the atonal guitar chords give it plenty of range to fit in. It’s not clear why this band have an association with black metal other than through the occasional use of high-range tremolo riffing. Fans of the last Tomb Mold album will be more impressed – this is how you write an extreme metal record with a jazz mindset. You can pick just one instrument to focus on throughout the LP and then choose another one on second listen. Watch how the melodies radiate light in the diminished soloing of ‘Failure of Ancient Wisdoms’. Undoubtedly, a Berklee College of Music student would love to transcribe it.
As with any experimental music of great technical daring, we must also ask if it’s enjoyable. ‘Silence Which Ceases All Minds’ receives full marks for piquing curiosity, but could you listen to it every day? Well, it’s possible if you understand jazz and like the macabre glee of metal. ‘Silence Which Ceases All Minds’ will make you shiver like an early winter cold, yet it can provide the body heat you need through sheer velocity. If you don’t like this, you have three dungeon synth interludes to keep you onboard.
Those that like to shadow the groove will be overwhelmed by the high number of non-repeating passages and abrupt changes of tempo in Abditum. To be fair, Dylan Marks avoids the temptation of blasting everything to death in complete ignorance of the other instruments. But can you recall one riff or verse worthy of grunting along to as you would with Blessed are the Sick by Morbid Angel? The answer: it might be possible on the seventh listen.
JVB
Verdict
Release Date: 14/11/2025
Record Label: 20 Buck Spin
Standout tracks: Veracious Duality, Despair of Temporal Existence, Silence Which Ceases All Minds
Suggested Further Listening: Tomb Mold – The Enduring Spirit (2023), Atheist – Unquestionable Presence (1991), Horrendous – Ontological Mysterium (2023)