I Voidhanger Records

Khanus – Flammarion Review

Khanus – Flammarion Review

“Deep within a pock-marked chapel with cracked and occluded windowpanes / Withered ivy breaches the façade like consuming, pestilent varicose veins / Corpulent roots tear mottled floorboards and entangle with glee decaying pews / As spluttering light in copper braziers illuminate bodies in sallow hues / The congregation moan and shuffle, clutching their hands against their chest / While acrid smoke from burning censers coils in pools at the priest’s behest / An eerie thrum begins to vibrate, its violence smothering the crowd’s sharp cries / As shadowy figures approach the pulpit with fanaticism burning in their eyes / Khanus are here, robed and feverous, a rictus grin creases their face…” Death smiles at all of us.

Abstracter – Cinereous Incarnate Review

Abstracter – Cinereous Incarnate Review

“I was once pretty optimistic about the future, but in recent years my outlook has grown progressively more dismal. Humanity has continued to ravage the planet while conveniently ignoring the fact that perpetual growth is impossible, and the result will be a future more nightmarish than a thousand blackened sludge bands could ever conjure. Of course, that doesn’t stop them from trying, and few succeed at evoking these apocalyptic images as well as Abstracter.” Dismal cool.

Panegyrist – Hierurgy Review

Panegyrist – Hierurgy Review

Steel Druhm‘s black metal appreciation days have largely come and gone as we’ve grown apart and developed irreconcilable differences. Because I’m such a self-aware, introspective gent, I give the genre a wide birth when it comes to promo pluckery lest I savage a band for my own lack of interest. But a strange thing happened on the way to the sump recently. Madam X was sampling new arrivals and I didst hear such a compelling cacophony that I simply had to know who was responsible.” Risky blackness.

Yhdarl – Loss Review

Yhdarl – Loss Review

“Pulling off a long song — be it a ten-minute black metal piece or an hour-plus funeral doom opus — takes very deliberate pacing. Great drone and doom bands know this and know how to pull the listener rather than push them. If the song moves too fast, it can seem to lose structure, but if it moves too slowly, it can stagnate and sour the listener to its next idea. One has to have the pacing and space to keep themselves involved.” The long lurch into oblivion.

The Clearing Path – Watershed Between Firmament and the Realm of Hyperborea Review

The Clearing Path – Watershed Between Firmament and the Realm of Hyperborea Review

“When writing reviews I try to spend as much time articulating ‘why I like the thing’ as much as I do proclaiming that ‘the thing is good.’ This is strictly for the benefit of my audience; if I fail to indicate my qualifiers for good music, a reader with far-removed expectations may feel alienated or, even worse, make a blind purchase and end up wasting hard-earned Bandcamp Bucks.” Blind purchase blues.

Esoctrilihum – Mystic Echo from a Funeral Dimension Review

Esoctrilihum – Mystic Echo from a Funeral Dimension Review

“I, Voidhanger are very good at promoting their bands, very good at creating enticing mythos’, building intrigue, and drawing in a listener with vibrant art-work and concepts. Mystic Echo from a Funeral Dimension has been given this treatment and I, Voidhanger have drawn me in. The actual musical product, though, has to live up to these lofty heights. Is this 2017’s III by Spectral Lore or is this destined to float in the void of the forgotten?” Void loitering.

Les Chants du Hasard – Les Chants du Hasard Review

Les Chants du Hasard – Les Chants du Hasard Review

“I’ve been lurking the metal blogosphere for around a decade now, and while I hesitate to call myself a scene vet, I’ve read enough write-ups from various webzines to know how coverage of a record like the self-titled debut of France’s Les Chants du Hasard generally plays out. Most scribes hunger for the discovery of some nebulous ‘next big thing’ that carries the potential of turning a genre on its head. As such, many writers are overly eager to gush over potential innovators; when met face to face with what their promo sheet describes as an all-orchestral black metal album, they’re often too willing to jump on the hype train, regardless of quality.” Classical darkness.

Selcouth – Heart is the Star of Chaos Review

Selcouth – Heart is the Star of Chaos Review

“I’m always skeptical when the term “avant-garde” is flung in the direction of a work of art. Declaring with any degree of certainty that an artistic creation surpasses the confines of the status quo is a fool’s errand. Time is the great leveler, and only on its scales can we weigh an artwork’s impact against the feather of the chattering masses. So, when I received the promo for Selcouth’s debut album Heart is the Star of Chaos and saw it described by the label as “avant-garde,” my hackles raised immediately in response to such hubris.” Dare to be different.

In Human Form – Opening of the Eye by the Death of the I Review

In Human Form – Opening of the Eye by the Death of the I Review

In Human Form has me trapped in a corner. In addition to being a mouthful, Opening of the Eye by the Death of the I has seen my prosaic muse torn to pieces. I doubt this current dry spell stems from a lack of comprehension, but I pray nonetheless for a moment of clarity to absolve this torment. An undertaking this ambitious and idiosyncratic surely has a story to tell, but my thoughts are born dead, the empty words of an overactive imagination.” Open the mind or die.