Death. Void. Terror. are a black/death/doom metal band from Switzerland, and this is their third album.
This new record follows hot on the sulphurous heels of last month’s EP To the Great Monolith 2.5. So, what do these strange, otherworldly travellers have in store for us this time? The answer, is something unexpectedly special. Something, in fact, to shake you out of your complacency and really, truly, feel the music.
To the Great Monolith III: Rifts consists of 47 minutes of atmospheric black, death, and doom metal, all wrapped intimately together and then corrupted by the foulest of arcane ceremonies. Having said that, there are so many creative ideas and sonic excursions on this record, that simply labelling it as black/death is misleading. Even the widened tag of black/death/doom doesn’t feel quite right. This is an avant-garde powerhouse of idiosyncratic individuality, an expression of extreme metal worship via the medium of borderless wanderings and curated innovation.
Okay, so, there remains a core of black/death brutality and chaos at the heart of what Death. Void. Terror. do, and it’s maliciously glorious when it surfaces. Mostly, it infects everything here with the threat of destruction, no matter how fully realised. On To the Great Monolith III: Rifts this heart of punishing darkness is stressed and pushed to the limit by the band’s experimental tastes, resulting in a hardier, healthier, stranger vessel. Poured into said vessel is a mutagenic cocktail of occult venoms and liquid emotions, all laced with mind-expanding substances. These are pumped around To the Great Monolith III: Rifts‘s corrupt veins, poisoning them in such exquisite ways as to paradoxically breathe new vigour into tired bones and weathered flesh. All of which is to ultimately say; Death. Void. Terror. do not play your average generic death/black/doom metal. At all. No, this is something better, something other.
Hyperbole aside, Death. Void. Terror. really do offer music that’s greater than the norm. If you’re after bestial violence you’ll find it if you really want to, but here you’ll primarily discover atmosphere-focused music that takes you on a fractured, dangerous journey into sights unseen and sounds unheard. Death. Void. Terror. are masters of their chosen esoteric arts.
The To the Great Monolith III: Rifts experience is hypnotic, and deeply characterful. It succeeds in allowing the listener to enter a trance-like fugue state. Richly immersive, with recondite atmospheres, psychedelic auras, textured bass, a tribal tapestry, and much more besides, this is a record that is remarkable.
The shape of To the Great Monolith III: Rifts is hard to define. Just as you think you have mapped it out, it changes, warping itself into new configurations. Each new turn reveals a new facet, some experiential gem to marvel at, a previously unfelt avalanche to get buried in, a majestic expanse of imperial grandeur to become swept away by, or a whole new cavernous underworld to explore. It sprawls and twitches, flows and stutters. It’s alive, but with pulsing life that drowns out all else when it’s active. When dormant, you can just about pull yourself away from its evocative allure, but you’ll be back. Oh, you’ll always be back.
I’m not sure anyone really expected Death. Void. Terror. to unleash something like this on the world. Sure, there were hints that they had true greatness in them, (after all, they were a notable band prior to this release), but To the Great Monolith III: Rifts really is exceptional.
Essential listening.
