With roots stemming back to the late 90’s Void have always been a bit of a curious beast. Founding member Matt Jarman has through the group’s career had not so much as one foot in the Scandi-weird scene but has collaborated with many of the luminaries from within it. Essentially he has also played live with Dodheimsgard and re-forged ties with them by joining in on guitar when the band swung into London on their The Void Dancers MMXIX Tour back in 2019 (a show you can read about on these very pages if you so care to). Although starting out as more of an electronically and industrial based project they have steered more into avant-garde black metal eccentricities and progressive metal realms; 2021 album The Hollow Man being perhaps an underrated gem in their career. Now Matt is back with a new line-up consisting of bassist Lars Emil Måløy (DHG, If Nothing Is), drummer Tariq Zulficar (Atramentum) and guitarist Camille Giraudeau (Dreams Of The Drowned, Stagnant Waters and ex DHG live). This formation should leave you in no uncertainty that this album is going to be far from conventional.
Firstly, what on earth is a Jadjow? Well, I guess the cover-art should give you a clue along with some of the odd track titles here. One gets the sense of a Victorian travelling bestiary of weird creatures that could have easily been summoned up by the imagination of writers such as Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear. The album swings into town unleashing carnival chaos the second play is pressed with 10-minute opener ‘Fables from a Post-Truth Era.’ Crazed and zany accordion like sound contorts and weaves around and lunacy unfolds continuing for the next hour or so. Vocals cleanly duck, dive and swoop around the wild guitar riffs and one feels that they have been dropped into a chaotic circus and are riding an out of control merry-go-round. Lovers of Arcturus, Ved Buens Ende, Fleurety and of course DHG will be in their element, others may well be lost and looking for the exit as quickly as possible. Naturally I love this and the fact the album pushes conventions whilst never standing still for a second. As for this first track look out for a surprise verse at end. It’s a bit of an Easter egg but a Xmas themed one if you get my drift.
The cleverly entitled ‘Interdaementional’ takes on eldritch and maudlin hues sparing a bit from the otherwise zealous approach. It’s an enchanting slab of poetic storytelling, Jarman’s vocals drawing into its charms and gas-lit gloom before spreading invasive tentacles of abject lunacy. Starting like a doomed love song ‘Only For You’ plunges into thorny spiralling guitars and the mania of an unhinged mind is erratically released to overspill into the realms of madness. For some reason ‘Oduduwa’s Chain’ takes us to 11th Century African traditions and the founder of The Ife Empire. I could try and explain more but the head is spinning enough from the derangement of the music thank-you very much. I guess the funereal orientation of ‘When Lucifer Dies’ is a bit easier to get a fix on and serves as suitably dark and depressive requiem complete with sounds of traffic taking it into the urban conglomeration. ‘Self-Reflection’ turns psychiatry on its head taking us on giddy guided-tour of bedlam. Then we are back to the cabinet of curiosities and the grotesque courtesy of the cages of ‘The Swamp Dog’ and ‘Iniquitous Owl’ being unlocked. The former’s maddening chorus and melody are absolutely fantastique and the latter apparently a cheeky play on words based on Satyricon’s ‘Havoc Vulture’, is guaranteed to get your head spinning 180 degrees.
So much for calming down at the end of the year. Void have delivered one of the craziest and most complex albums of 2023 here. Those who venture in are going to find themselves somewhat stupefied make no mistake but you will be guaranteed a perplexing and adventurous ride.
(8.5/10 Pete Woods)
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