Voidmilker – Labyrinthical
Tragedy Productions
Release Date: 07/07/2023
Running Time: 34:27
Review by Gem Wingfield
8/10
So , I’m going to kick right off with a review of an exceptionally captivating one man Black Metal masterpiece named Voidmilker. This debut release named Labyrinthical offers us a peek into his dark yet mesmerizingly soothing world of solitude and contemplation.
This is decadent Black Metal.
The kind of Black Metal that seems to be harking back to a more traditional sort of style to the likes of Darkthrone but with a clearer, less lo-fi rawness to it . The press release described it quite rightly as “IMMERSIVE BLACK METAL” and that it truly is.
The lone entity behind Voidmilker is no other than the wondrous lone virtuoso named Gabriel Hugo, known for his atmospheric Chilean band Lascar.
Unlike Lascar, which is more focused on humanity and the natural world, Voidmilker is a far darker conceptual piece of ear artistry using what sounds like much more bleak realisations of his now gloomier world. Each song tells a different bleak story. One can only guess at what inspired him to create such a darker creation of music. Labyrinthical certainly conjures up a picture of beautiful misery in the only way a Black Metal artist such as Gabriel Hugo can.
The album opens with the introductory track named ‘Decades’ not being able to understand what exactly is being vocalised within this beautiful piece of solid crescendoing mastery, I can only describe this as sounding like an opening pre-cursor track of what is to come. This track is probably easy listening compared to the rest of the album….afterall we could do with a light limber up for the listener to prepare for what is to come.
We are then perfectly transfixed enough into the next offering named ‘ A Pregnant Cult’. The name alone suggests the feeling of brainwashing abusive, non consensual misery.
It tells a bleak story of women being trapped inside an endless carousel , inside a broken room, a nightmare are the lyrics I can make out that are repeated again and again. It is dark and bleak as fuck. The more I listen the more sickened I actually feel by the emotions conjured up. A powerful and an uneasy listen once you’ve really dug your teeth into the true meaning of the song.
After that traumatic horror of the last track the listener is not let off with any respite from misery, no none at all we are slapped straight into the depths of ‘Abomination Of Desolation’. Yet more uneasy misery and painful bleakness. This track does have some lighter riffs running through it in places then an abrupt wall of crushing riffs before it finally eases the listener off into a single guitar sense of safety at 3:25….we take a breath we wait then of course the wall of riffs is back with many layers of beautiful melodies and gravelly growling vocals as is present throughout this whole masterpiece of an album, the song concludes and I am left wondering what’s gonna happen next.
‘Collapsing’ doesn’t hang about, straight in with mesmerising riffs once more with the gravelly growls of misery, creating thoughts of more unbearable heaviness perhaps of responsibility….at 2:40 the listener hears the gravelly vocals intensify into a cry of utter broken pain. Like a wounded tortured creature, not human, collapsing under the weight of the world,the weight of pain and suffering. I then hear vocals of living by a quiet river I cannot make out the rest of what is being communicated across. I am left thinking perhaps the vocalist would quite like to find some peace in that quiet river he’s been tentatively screaming about. Madness feels real at this point in the album.
‘Cosmic Summon’ starts with a weary slower melodic winding riff, easing us into the next part of intense story telling. Mr Gravels has a rest and we are led into crushing symbols and another winding repetitive blasty riff leading us through some pain and a bit of a breather before a time change , a reprieve for 30 seconds and then back come those painful cries of ahhh nooo the utter misery which at this point in the album can only remind me of Ghost Bath, then back in with Mr Gravels again , more of the same sort of theme throughout the other tracks of this album. More of this till it all ends with crushing pain and frenzied yearning for another life.
Then we have ‘Bronze Child’, this track starts like a roman chariot style riff galloping along in a black metal kinda way nothing too unusual here…. But then… at 1:20 something unexpected and quite unnerving kicks in with a new louder chugging guitar riff that literally sounds like a mistake in the mix or it just takes you by surprise intentionally as if to hijack your ears for 13 seconds which makes for a haunting and quite unsettling experience like someone has deliberately turned up the chugging riff on purpose in the mix to undermine the drums which now sound tinny and miniscule in comparison to the rest of the song is pretty genius and straight back into the song out of time a weird 13 seconds of un-ease then at 1:34 it continues, an announcement like riff and a beautiful melody followed by vocals of we ride like roman gladiators out of the shadows and so fourth…repeated once more then wham at 2:47 that overlord chugging riff comes back like an unwelcome presence those tinny snares and we are back again at 3:00 , not a surprise another 13 seconds in length as we go back into the conclusion of the song the gravelly voice leaves embarrassed and naked…roman chariots the bronze child has left.
Finally after what feels like an eternity of misery in only 30 minutes we end with ‘Birth of Trepidation’ this bleak overture sounds like whatever he has an overwhelming sense of fear and anxiety about is possibly all behind him now, after completing this album. Perhaps ending with a message of impending doom. The track ends abruptly and I am glad.
Black Metal for me has always been a very personal journey for its listener. This album is truly aimed at making its listener think beyond it’s fast past black metal strumming and concentrate hard on what’s really happening inside this labrynthine world.
‘Decades’ Official Audio
TRACKLISTING:
01. Decades
02. A Pregnant Cult
03. Abomination Of Desolation
04. Collapsing
05. Cosmic Summon
06. Bronze Child
07. Birth Of Trepidation
LINE-UP:
Gabriel Hugo – Vocals and all music
LINKS:
Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Gem Wingfield and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.