Limited to an undisclosed amount of copies.
Void Prayer is a atmospheric black metal band hailing from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Born from the ashes of the band Cave Ritual, the band changed their name to Void Prayer in 2014. They are a part of the ever-growing black metal scene in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and are a member of the Black Plague Circle (think Les Légions Noires). After releasing a promising demo in 2014, they’ve followed it up here with their debut full-length album, “Stillbirth From the Psychotic Void”.
The true weight-puller here is the production. Atmosphere and mood are key with this album, and the production went a long way towards making those things successful. This isn’t a pretty record. It wasn’t meant to be. There are certainly melodies, but they don’t feel pretty. They feel agonizing. The production feels like it was recorded in a deep dank cavern. There are lots of almost echo-like qualities, especially with the drums. This echo-like sound on the drums actually sounds incredibly cold, and I think mixes well with the atmospheric nature of the album’s overall sound. The drums are not doing anything overly technical at all. In fact, they are mostly playing very simplistic stuff, but they play one of the most important roles on the album by being bombastic with sharp slicing cymbals. The production helps the drums achieve that, and it sounds great. The vocals are lower in the mix. In fact, everything kind of sounds like it is loud, but also low in the mix at the same time. It almost has a underwater sound to it (not dramatically, but a thin layer perhaps). It all actually kind of reminds me of Xasthur’s later period production, though this is much more raw. I can’t say enough good things about the way this album sounds.
The album starts off with “The Key (Intro)”, a creepy piano piece. It definitely gives off the sense of foreboding danger. After that we’re into the meat and potatoes of the record -- an intense wanderlust through the trenches of a twisted reality. The guitar riffs switch back and forth between sounding like warnings of incoming evil and sounding like the grief and sadness that resulted from after that evil arrived. Sometimes the riffs are faster and more aggressive, but soon they are followed up by a slower, more sorrowful riff. It’s disjointedness at its best, and it works effectively towards the overall sound. Sometimes the riffs are just so jarringly evil and discordant (like 1:28-2:48 in “Maelstrom of Dismay”). These parts are typically the more melancholic passages. The bass is pretty solid. For black metal, it’s pretty audible, but I still wish it was louder (although at its current volume, perhaps that helps the overall static of the album).
The vocals are a mixture of higher-pitched abrasive throat-wails and gloomy narrow hallway sad-ghost-moans. Being so low in the mix, the vocals enhance the atmosphere and push it towards incredible reaches. The vocals act as shrieks of pain, anguished misery, intense fear, or all of the above. In fact, there are times where I totally feel like I am listening to DSBM (3:39-4:36 in “Semblance of the Abyss”, though here for the guitar not the vocals). This is definitely at its base, and atmospheric black metal, but even while listening to it while writing this review, more and more my mind went to DSBM bands in terms of trying to compare what it was that I was hearing. The song “Lost Within the Walls of Broken Dreams” starts off super doom-y, almost funeral doom sounding, but as the song progresses, it actually really reminded me of Xasthur. “Stillbirth From the Psychotic Void” has some doom-y elements as well (not something uncommon in DSBM). I don’t think I would call this DSBM, but it flirts with a lot of DSBM elements. The last track is called “The Book of the Mind (Outro)”, and it is a slow ambient piece. It’s kind of like a welcome and deserved cool-down after the harrowing journey you just experienced.
This isn’t an album of built upon the back of a couple of stronger tracks. This is an album that is a sum greater than the individual pieces. The tracks are fine by themselves, but interconnected they are like a devastating experience into the wretched existence in an ethereal plane. “Stillbirth From the Psychotic Void” is a great name for this album, as it pretty perfectly depicts the the contents of the music and the feelings they emote (and may draw out of you as well).
Sample: youtube.com/watch?v=4chBoQ97J8w&t=426s
