Review Summary: Moreso morsel.
It’s not often I’ll go into an album thinking “man, that thirty-seven-minute run-time sounds perfect”, but that’s exactly why VoidCeremony’s
Threads Of Unknowing is the harrowing success it is. Sure, I could sit here and lap up a bottomless barrel of descriptors, knuckling down on the old-school flair, the melodious solos or that tasty bass sound but it’s the manic lurch from
Threads Of Unknowing’s titular opener to the eleven minute closer, “Forlorn Portrait: Ruins of an Ageless Slumber” that prevents any sustainable pollution to the progressive meets old-school flamboyance that is undeniably “modern” (even if the opposite was the intent). That’s how
it works. Notions of spectacular innovation tossed far, far out the window. Never to be mentioned again. VoidCeremony instead looks back to look forwards (what?), necks twisted most unnaturally in order to captivate, ensnare and quickly brutalise an unfeasible amount of death metal tropes. Jagged riffs and uncanny death metal motifs on constant display all while
Threads Of Unknowing reaffirms the standards set in recent years by other prominent, premiere acts.
That said,
Threads Of Unknowing is a cosmic journey…through a swamp in the middle of a concrete jungle. One quick trip down the streets of “Threads of Unknowing'' embodies the technical fluency of a band whose members represent a wider death metal scope (Atramentus, Chthe’ilist, Worm, First Fragment, Mournful Congregation, Stargazer, Ascended Dead, Vrenth, and Chthonic Deity—just to touch on a few). The track’s pacing is frantic, but there’s no denying the tasty bass licks that pop from under the more rambunctious death metal compositions. VoidCeremony’s grasp on what it takes to be a stellar act wasn’t a flash in the
Entropic Reflections Continuum and the group’s newest effort even knows when to provide a minimalistic breath of fresh air in the form of “At The Periphery of Human Realms (The Immaterial Grave)”. There’s still chords, and definitely enough room for the listener to immerse themselves into the cosmic trance of the death metal that surrounds it. I do however question the need for VoidCeremony to take the foot off the pedal here and not earlier. I digress, appreciating the tactile less-ness in a wider scope of unfaltering
riffs, growls and blast beats.
All in all, VoidCeremony’s
Threads Of Unknowing is a slick take on executing ‘modern’ old-school death metal while intertwining progressive cum technical climes. The biggest takeaway this album has to offer comes in the form of the closer, “Forlorn Portrait: Ruins of an Ageless Slumber”, an eleven minute, virtuosic hurtle through jagged, but accessible tech-riffing. This track is comparatively more dense and artistically acute than everything before it, but that in itself articulates just how well the album’s overall run-time entertains, achieving what it needs to before exiting in waves of thrashing speed and furor. The atmosphere at least lifts into eerie respite, here, if nowhere else. Perhaps it’s the extra touch of a melodious solo, riffs passing in and out of prominence if only to bolster the band’s more technical focus, but “Forlorn Portrait” really meets the expectation of the old-school death metal scene thriving on good ideas and perfect execution.
Threads Of Unknowing deserves its accolades, much like the debut before it but unlike its predecessor,
Entropic Reflections Continuum: Dimensional Unravel, VoidCeremony’s latest is more polished, mature and somehow respectively organic in the face of an ever-present need to be caustically sterile.
Threads Of Unknowing itself is a highlight and if you were one of the
unknowing, you’re now at least in the right
thread.
