November 22, 2013

Void Meditation Cult - Sulfurous Prayers of Blight and Darkness



You lose some, you win some. Thantifaxath recently decided that they didn't want their music on Bandcamp any longer, not even just streaming, leaving the Bandcamp page a little bare. Shortly after that I got mail from Hells Headbangers Records telling me that Void Meditation Cult decided to "letting us offer this for digital download" - "This" being Sulfurous Prayers of Blight and Darkness their 2013 split with Sperm of Antichrist. Or rather with themselves - Void Meditation Cult is the continuation of Sperm of Antichrist, and Sulfurous Prayers Of Blight And Darkness is the combination of the titles of demos from the two bands.

Photos by Carmelo Española.

The four tracks from Void Medication Cult are the standouts. Thick stomach churning detuned death metal riffing overlaid with monstrous vocals - like the guttural voice of some unspeakable being from the foul crypts. The unsettling atmosphere is straight out of the most blasphemous black metal; it is greatly enhanced by the slithering whispered vocals - like a giant snake god given human form - and the very effective use of ominous floating synths. The four Sperm of Antichrist tracks are rawer, and lack some of the features the make the other truly great: The guttural vocals, and the atmospheric synths. They are not bad at all, but it is interesting to see how small effective changes to the formula makes a better concoction. If Void Meditation Cult can improve their dark craft like this in the course of two demos, it gives me high hopes for an eventual full-length.


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3 comments:
  1. I hearby dub this genre "whispercore."

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  2. Hi,Bit of a detour but all the satanism/occultism in metal IMO doesn't have to be taken literally or even in the presumed intended symbolic meaning. Much of metal's truths/ideas lie in the realms of the obscured metaphor and mythic re-representation of real life events, ideologies, philosophies and so on. To me, occultism in metal is about our desire to see what is"beyond" the veil of the mundane and the human insect on the macro-scale. And I'm a stout anti-theist/spiritualist sort.Thank you!!
    >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
    sant kirpal singh

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