It’s all about self-extinction, transformation and starting again. Well, the album is, this being Blood Torrent’s third full release. Devotees of original black metal and 70s / 80s hard rock, the band bring in some of this with progressive touches.
A dark and apocalyptic piece of punishment sets us on our way. The ghouls are flying as the merciless Mayhem-like riff of “A Knowledge of Light”. The harsh contempt has a feel of Blood Torrent’s fellow black metallers Dark Fortress. “A Knowledge of Light” skilfully ramps up but is no less raucous or harsh. In fact, it’s dirty and frightening. Blood Torrent are not averse to switching direction, so we get pure modern black metal combined with the odd psychedelic guitar solo. It all enriches the atmosphere. Where “A Knowledge of Light” worked for me, “Decay and Transformation” doesn’t so much its curious hybrid of menacing black metal and flamboyant 70s style rock-metal guitar work – not at the same time, I should add. I do enjoy the dark and powerful atmospheres that Blood Torrent create. At this point the album heads into a modern melodic Khold style black metal, with the curious insertion of an oi-oi-oi section on “Elemental Scorn”. Even at a live concert this wouldn’t have seemed right. The song returns to a battery of dirty malevolence to be fair.
Aggressive metal is the order of the day on “Necromass”, which is enhanced by a twisty technical guitar section. Blood Torrent like to play. Each section is interesting and there’s plenty of energy here but I’m not sure it hangs together so well. After the dark and atmospheric “Raised Knives” comes the contrast of the punkish “Phantom Propaganda”. At the same time, it is mixed with the familiar black metal and old-style hard rock guitar work. The start of “Prisma” is like a throwback to a 70s heavy progressive rock track. Harsh aggression follows, and the song meanders between menacing black metal, a colourful guitar piece and the direct harshness which stands as the core. Then as if we hadn’t had enough variety, “The Strive” starts with a sombre riff and an echoing clean Ian Gillan style vocal. Progressive power is certainly different, and the guitar work hangs menacingly, demonstrating one of the impressive qualities of this album, but this is almost like a bonus track compared to the others. As this eleven-minute piece progresses, I sensed that it was supposed to be epic, and it had its moments, but “The Strive” summed up much of the album for me in that it had some great ideas but the end product was disappointing.
I found the mixture of styles a bit random, and as a result I felt that continuity was lost. The individual parts of “Void Universe” were fine, and there was plenty of dark atmosphere and energy, but it didn’t work for me as a whole.
(6/10 Andrew Doherty)
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