Timeless Static Void play a brand of doom metal that overflows with peculiarity, contributing to a unique experience on their new record, There Will Be Grief. They market themselves as influenced by the work of Peter Steele and Type O Negative, and that strange goth metal mentality does shine through, but there’s also more to their story. They’re not just a cover or tribute band.
Instead, their music feels like it snakes through the grass and really sneaks up on the listener, slowly immersing them in some of their deepest fears. They combine ambient compositions drawn from the natural environment with a thudding, relentless doom metal to craft an actually rather full sonic environment, quickly transporting the listener to some kind of forgotten cemetery in the backwoods of some similarly forgotten area. They’ve stripped some perhaps familiar musical elements down to the bone and used the resultant pieces as ingredients to make something new.
The emotional resonance that a trip into the dark woods would provide jumps out at the listener through There Will Be Grief, like the record is some kind of lurking demon who’s been awakened and is out for prey. These senses get amplified thanks to the extremely effectively interwoven ambiance and repeated devolution into audio samples that are, quite frankly, disturbing, sharing the perspective of a murderer who’s gone completely over the edge of sanity. Thanks to the sometimes clean vocals, the lyrical themes take a prominent position as well, walking the listener down a path of complete defeat in the face of death.
There is a certain “over-the-top” feel to their work, but this sense corresponds perfectly to what it seems they’re actually trying to do. They’ve crafted a portrait of human darkness, really dipping heavily into the emotional extremity side of the pool, and the result proves potent enough to leave a sour taste in the listener’s mouth, to say the least. For the right person, that’ll hit the spot.
What you do with the material is up to you, which allows in a way for a more immersive story. Leaving the tunes behind, there’s a range for escapism to cathartic understanding via the work, which really draws the listener into the process. The musicians aren’t just playing at you; they’re inviting you along for the ride, creeps and all.
5/5 Stars
Listen below via Bandcamp.
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