Void Ritual – Death Is Peace

Void Ritual
Death Is Peace
Ipos Music
★★★

Alburquerque, New Mexico, seems like the last place you would expect a black metal band to emerge from. With the desert environment and the brazen landscape, it’s a perfect place for a band like Void Ritual to excel. Daniel Jackson’s work has brought about a sense of curiosity as their debut EP Holodomor sold out.

Death Is Peace is one of two albums to be released this year. The album is a journey that twists the fabric of reality by offering a dose of hyper tension of contorted possession between the living and the afterlife.

“Given Unto the Water” sounds more stained by Irish conception than desert death while the mantra stays the same—using the ideology of ritual within the power of dimensionalism. It’s our initiation into this dark and cavernous release.

Void Ritual – A Mockery of Flesh & Bone

Daniel Jackson used Death Is Peace to extract the harshness of death, depression and anxiety. He dives into the mental abyss on the title track in hopes to bring about a sense of realization in this lifetime.

There is an intoxicating turmoil that twists with turbulence as the album progresses. Jackson’s intent was to make some standout songs and procure placement in the second wave of black metal. The vocal growls and mass of metal riffs suck you into its power. What we get is blowback on “The Howling Darkness.” Jackson’s multi-versatile vocal abilities to float between registers amplifies Void Ritual’s creative spark.

“In The Depths” goes beyond the line of expectation and excels in the realm of pure insanity. Your mind will be in a state of submission as you are engulfed in Jackson’s engorged madness.

Between dynamics and provocation, Void Ritual creates black metal that is intriguing and effective. I can only anticipate what the second album has to offer.