Death. Void. Terror. are an anonymous duo from Zurich that moves in a space of its own, between black metal, doom and experimentation. “To The Great Monolith III: Rifts” is their third full work.
“`Country: Switzerland
Genre: Experimental black/doom, atmospheric psychedelic metal
For fans of: Urfaust, The Ruins of Beverast, Bölzer
Who they are
They first appeared around 2018 as an anonymous duo, with an improvised atmospheric drone sound, and gradually added ambient black metal. On their early works comparisons with Urfaust and The Ruins of Beverast were unavoidable. Before this album came the cassette “To the Great Monolith 2.5”, which showed where they were heading: not an abrupt change, but a passage.
What changes here
“Rifts” leaves behind the improvisational character and goes for work that is more personal and more designed. The voices now play the central role: throat singing, effects, percussion, keyboards and techniques they had never used to this degree before. Above all, ritual execution dominates, along with hits that recall a march and a psychedelic element that barely fits into one genre.
The tracks
Most tracks run 8-10 minutes, so the album needs time. The opening “(- — – — -) Gözdyrey” and “(- — – -) Ids Elrekis Frakhetir” set the measure from the start. In “( – – -) Flukhetor” the duo reaches its most cinematic point, with percussion like a ritual circle, church keyboards flirting with funeral doom and a whistle that closes the track. “(— — -) Asgadon Odewäl” is our own peak: the voices are more contained, the music is built with patience and the end comes with screams. The last one, “(- —) Daphnyr”, is the album’s weakest point, more a murmur of ideas than a closing.
Our take
“To The Great Monolith III: Rifts” is not an easy album and does not try to be. What it does is put you in a world that resembles nothing else right now: the production fills space, the voices work like an instrument and the tracks demand repeats. Whatever sounds foreign at first pulls you in by the end. One of the releases worth your time.
See also: Early Moods – Ready For the Grave | Metal Territory
