I truly can’t believe we are in November already. This year has given us so much great music that I feel like the cliche of, “time flies when you’re having fun”, should be reworked into, “time flies when you have absolutely incredible soul-crushing metal coming out every week.” Doesn’t really flow as well though… I’ll work on it.
A little bit of housekeeping before we talk about the best music from last month. I know best-of-the-year lists are already starting to pepper out online, Decibel being the most notable, however, I sadly am not at a level where I get promo music before albums come out. I put my thoughts together in real time as the music is coming out. With that said, I want to announce that Sounds of the Void will be unleashing List Week (working title of course), during the week of 12/11. Which is next freakin’ month! I will be putting together a different list for every day that week including; the Top 50 albums of 2022, Top EPs, Top Demos, Top Dungeon Synth releases, and some others that I am still working on at the moment.
So, once again thank you so much for all of your continued support, and here is the best music of October 2022.
EPs
Vampyric – Untouched by Songs That Angels Sing
Black Metal from Pennsylvania
Blasphemous Mockery Productions
Coming in at just under 22 minutes and bookended by gorgeous synth-driven tracks, Dusk and Dawn, Vampyric releases something truly special with this EP. For me, we are introduced to the concept of hope and light, and optimism, but as the music drives on that hopefulness given to us at dusk is ripped away and darkness shrouded in despair and the loss of hope is what remains to us by the dawn. This is not just another black metal Bandcamp release, there is a visceral emotional tie that the band most certainly put there on purpose. Not afraid to step away from what is oftentimes deemed as “the rules of black metal”, they challenge their listeners by giving us an unexpected musical interlude from the typical black metal progression. You’ll hear that about halfway through Infernal Revelations. Don’t sleep on this. Probably one of my favorite black metal releases of the year.
Aara – Phthonos
Atmospheric Black Metal from Switzerland
Debemur Morti Productions
I don’t know how these modern bands do it. In May of 2022, (yes, this very year!) Aara released the incredible full-length album, Triade II: Hemera. Then less than five months later they release, one of the most well-put-together EPs of 2022 as well. Now, grant it, it’s two tracks and in total comes in at just over ten minutes, but still, this is a feat. The even more impressive aspect of this EP is that it almost sounds nothing like Triade II. I may even be so bold to say that I prefer the production quality of Phthonos. While Triade II is a bit unrelenting and crushing with its sound, you have a more methodical, less-is-more attitude coming into the fold. I certainly welcome their next full-length if this is a prologue of what is to come.
Worm – Bluenothing
Death/Black/Doom Metal from Florida
20 Buck Spin
I like to talk about Worm. If you follow the Sounds of the Void Instagram page or even go so far back as to last year before I started referring to my blog as Sounds of the Void, I ranked Worm’s previous full-length album, Foreverglade, as my second-best album of 2021. Obviously, I love what Worm does musically, but throughout the year as I have followed the band, they represent more than just a killer heavy band. They represent not having to fit inside of some box because you’ve been deemed something to the world. This is something I’ve experienced for what feels like 30 years. A little peek behind the curtain, I don’t have many friends who listen to the kind of music I do. Don’t get me wrong, I have wonderfully supportive friends that are always there for me, but I can’t talk about my biggest passion with them. A passion I have had since I first saw the music video for The Memory Remains on MTV when I was 11 years old. When I heard Worm for the first time last year, I heard this slow, brooding funeral doom, but wait… He’s wearing Corpse Paint?! That’s not common. And of course, that leads us to Bluenothing.
Bluenothing is the progression of Worm to the next level. Adding the incredible talent that is Wroth Septentrion, real name Philippe Tougas (Atramentus, Chthe’ilist, First Fragment), on guitar was a huge get for Worm. The addition of these huge, beautiful, guitar works that truly solidify the term, sweep you off your feet really adds an entirely new layer to the band. But, when you listen to it, you know it’s still Worm. That’s why this album is special. It’s Worm without any compromise.
LPs
Deadbody – The Requiem
Death Metal/Hardcore from California
Closed Casket Activities
Have you ever been punched in the fucking face? Ok, Ok… Have you ever been, “emotionally” punched in the fucking face? That’s what this malevolent beat of a debut album is. A punch to the fucking face. With enough OSDM attitude that lures you into feeling like you’re in for something, and that the music stops, they flip you off Stone Cold style and drops you with a stunner that brutalizes your senses and relinquishes you of the safety you were feeling before you turned started playing The Requiem.
OK, on a lighter note, I had so much fun with this album. A killer mix of just straight-up death metal with definitely a side of good ol’ negative-ass hardcore.
Exhumed – To the Dead
Death Metal/Grindcore from California
Relapse Records
At the end of every post on the Sounds of the Void Instagram page, I end with what I consider my calling card of sorts. Stay Disgusting. When I type that out, it’s me conveying love in the way any fan of brutal music can. That’s exactly what Exhumed is doing with, To the Dead. Hell, they’ve been doing it for 32 years at this point. They are a staple of heavy music that has constantly released killer album after killer album. If you’re a fan of Exhumed, you will be a fan of To the Dead. If not, well, I’m sorry because you’re missing out on the pinnacle of Goregrind music. Unrelenting violence and brutality are what Exhumed do better than most at this point in their careers. So raise your glasses, To the Dead.
Primordial Serpent – Kingdom of Darkness and Despair
Black Metal from Canada
Independent
And now for something completely different. Within the first few seconds of the intro track, I got a chill. As the wind howled, and the piano mournfully played on and once the flute chimed in, the pain and solitude of winter began to set in. And what an accomplishment because I live in South Texas, it’s like 85 degrees as I type this! But that’s the kind of atmosphere Primordial Serpent is able to so effortlessly capture. I’ve said it before, but if we can take one positive thing from the isolation that the worldwide pandemic of 2020 brought to us, it was so many amazing black metal one-person projects. So many in fact that I get extreme FOMO that I’m missing the next big thing. Well, let me save you some time, Primordial Serpent is the next big thing. This is Primordial Serpent’s SIXTH full-length release since its inception in 2020. And that’s not counting all of the EPs and Splits the Canadian act has released. But from what I have listened to, Kingdom of Darkness and Despair is a standout triumph. Excellent production, a slowed down more brooding build-up with just the right amount of synth that really drives home the themes of nature, dark fantasy, Pagan mythology, and oh, did I mention that he has a heavy Dark Souls influence?! Yeah, the video game that I suck so hard at! I am so happy that we are breaking the mold of what Black Metal was, and embracing our inner nerds.
Vacuous – Dreams of Dysphoria
Death Metal from The United Kingdom
Me Saco un Ojo Records
It wouldn’t be an October blog without talking about something Scary. Vacuous brings the horror this Halloween with their debut, Dreams of Dysphoria. You’re going to have to trust me on this one. Vacuous have released probably my favorite produced death metal albums of this year. The vocals and most of all, vocal production on this album are incredible! I hate comparing bands, and I mean this in the most positive way, I was reminded of last year’s Malignant Altar release, Realms of Exquisite Morbidity. A slow and chugging build, but at about halfway through the opening track, Devotion, we take a dizzying trip into what the rest of the album has to offer. A chugging, no-frills death metal album that sounds both monstrous, horrifying, overwhelming, and cavernous. This will be talked about a lot when end-of-year lists come out.
Stormruler – Sacred Rites & Black Magick
Black Metal from Missouri
Naplam Records
Last year, we were given the gift of Stormruler’s debut album, Under the Burning Eclipse. Before even listening to the album I took a look at the tracklisting but instead of the 8-12 songs we are used to on a black metal record, I saw 19! I’m not sure why, but I immediately thought about Blind Guardian’s Nightfall in Middle-Earth, which is one of the best concept albums of all time. And the record is great! Lyrically we are taken to a fantasy world that I certainly wouldn’t want to visit, but something that I would absolutely want to read about in the pages of Brandon Sanderson, Steven Erikson, or perhaps Professor Tolkien himself. Fast Forward a year, I’ll say it again, A YEAR! and Stormruler ups the irons so to say with Sacred Rites and Black Magick. This is some of the best story-driven black metal I have ever heard. I love bands like Gloryhammer who have these incredible fantastical themes, but I am so happy that Stormruler is here to really make the music that I want to hear. I mentioned earlier that I wouldn’t want to visit these worlds of war, but listening to this I definitely googled how I could get a cloak and sword for myself.
This album has something for everybody. If you’re not a fantasy nerd like me, then you will absolutely love that at its roots, this is just a killer melodic black metal record that makes me think of acts like Sacramentum, and In the Nightside Eclipse era Emperor. And as a Texan, it blows my mind that this incredible record comes from Missouri. The production, guitar work, ebb and flow of the story built up in the interludes, it’s all perfect.
And that’s October! Next month we will have a regular blog for November, but then about halfway through December, I’ll come out with my lists for List week!
Don’t forget, please follow the Sounds of the Void Instagram page where I post content daily! Check out the QR code below or just click on it to take you to the page.
So what were your favorite albums from last month? Let me know in the comments and as always…
Stay Disgusting.
