Label: MetalGate Records
Origin: Prague, Czech Republic
Popularized by Immortal‘s obsession with winter in the early 90’s, as demonstrated on Blizzard Beasts and At the Heart of Winter, many groups have traded epiphanies of evil with fears of frostbite. Czech group Voluptas is among this crowd in spirit, but packs their chilly debut full-length Towards the Great White Nothing with metaphysically abstract lyrics and genre-bending instrumental blitzkriegs.
Opening track, “Crystalline Key,” blasts torrential sleet into crash cymbals behind an onslaught of icy shrieks from lead vocalist Michal. Stylistically a blend of Pest (ex Gorgoroth), Burzum, and early-Emperor (ala “Lord of the Storms”), Michal’s roaring deluge is philosophically advanced in content and exquisite in execution. The tempest lets up momentarily to illuminate a creative bassline and waft across a melodic lead, before the calm eye gives way to the hurricane’s second dose. These intermittent stop-starts in distortion levels and tempo are common across the record, setting Voluptas apart from contemporary one-dimensional groups.
Third track, “Of Gnosis and Agony,” is perhaps most experimental in terms of pace variation. Glacial power chords in minor keys calve musical continuity “under the sway of the coiling sun,” and contrasting lyrics about the obscure Sekhmet (a solar deity and daughter of Ra) with symbols of the more well-known Athena (depicted as an owl in liner notes) mirrors the melding of progressive instrumentation and more traditional, frigid vocals.
Thargelia (3:58 - 8:23) VOLUPTAS / TOWARDS THE GREAT WHITE NOTHING [full album stream] - YouTube
Standout track, “Thargelia,” is named for an ancient Athenian agricultural festival preceded by a purification ceremony wherein undesirable members of the community were chosen to die. True to subject, opening notes consist of nightmare-inducing minor chords and murderous down-tuned riffs driving the powerful verses. Extensive cymbal crashes and wintry shrieks elicit a blizzard of evil, while bone-chilling leads tear frost-bitten flesh away from the listener, layer by crystallized layer. A sudden pause allows the now-tempered wintry mix to fade into gentle acoustic flurries, before a throat-ripping abysmal growl introduces a succession of funeral doom chords, obliterating the listener in an unexpected avalanche of devastation. The instrumental squall and shrill vocal delivery return, wiping out the evidence of the murderous slide.
Penultimate track, “Between Terror and Erebus,” is a blinding assault on the senses, disorienting the intrepid listener, and cloaking the seething dangers of the looming volcanic presence. Largely unvaried and traditional in delivery, icicles of minor chords build progressions around lyrical themes of mysteriously coincident patterns between reverberating fractal veins and mortal desperation. Cosmic enigmas remain unsolved as the listener’s “occipital lobe burns away,” entrapped within the caldera, in preparation for the final phase: “Desert Twilight.” Slowly building and constantly layering, this 13+ minute epic begins as the black metal equivalent of Tool‘s “Eulogy,” until the masterful saxophone conjures paranoia and illusion. Overwhelming, doomed chords snap spinal cords, while brilliantly executed dual growls ricochet across the Antarctic continent, leading to a lengthy, obtuse saxophone solo that snake-charms extraterrestrial beams of light to the great white nothing.
Voluptas disguises their penchant for intellectual experimentation as a frost-covered black metal opus. Soundbites taken from different points of Towards the Great White Nothing could easily be confused with early-90’s Ulver bonus tracks, while others might elicit thoughts of more progressive-era Pink Floyd studio outtakes. When taken as a whole, Towards the Great White Nothing is a spectacular work of experimental black metal that will leave the listener trapped under the glossy ice of anticipation.
FFO: Ulver (early), Wolves in the Throne Room, Emperor (early), Immortal
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