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Trancelike Void > Unveiling the Silent Arms of Despair > Reviews
Trancelike Void - Unveiling the Silent Arms of Despair

Enjoyable if Unmemorable - 79%

Nokturnal_Wrath, December 3rd, 2014

Honestly, this band and this album in particular get a lot of undeserved hate. I’m not entirely sure why that is actually. The whole post black metal scene has been blooming as of late and rapidly gaining in popularity so I cannot fathom why Trancelike Void is the target of a lot of people’s vitriol. The music on Unveiling the Silent arms of Despair certainly isn’t anything ground breaking, it’s the same dreamy shoegazer melodies played on heavily distorted guitars with the occasional back ground shriek but it’s certainly more competent than other bands within the style.

As black metal leans more and more towards the shoegazing and post rock spectrum it loses more and more of its original darkness. Trancelike Void retain their black metal elements through the use of tortured vocals, minimalist compositions and heavily distorted guitars but while the overall delivery is accessible than what such a genre usually embodies, the band is able to retain some level of the darkness attached to the genre. In some ways this would make a good introduction to black metal, the production is poor but not grating, vocals are pushed far back enough so as not to become obstructive and the melodies are always comfortable and relaxing, never alien and hostile.

At first glance the music seems to lack structure. Any band that strives for atmosphere above all else is going to lack sorely in this department and Trancelike Void are no exception. Riffs are repeated into oblivion, making it hard to tell where one ends and another begins. Vocal presence is completely random, shrieks appearing out of nowhere with the intention to add more to the atmosphere. Luckily though the music isn’t directionless, there’s always a sense of purpose and forward momentum present throughout this. None of the changes present in the band’s sound come across as erratic, each feels organic and well written. The occasional acoustic break allows the band to explore their desired atmosphere through more accessible means and allowing for the music to be more textured. No, this album is not a complex one but does it need to be? The massive wall of sound approach for this band works really well in establishing a convincing atmosphere.

Unfortunately though, some sections of the music can go on for too long. Each track always has a perfectly competent beginning but can begin to drag once you realize the band are repeating the same thing over and over again. And whilst heavy use of repetition isn’t a problem for bands such as Hypothermia and Trist, the music that Trancelike Void play isn’t the kind to be repeated ad infinitum. The last section of the first track falls especially foul to this, the riff that’s repeated for the last few minutes just isn’t at all that interesting. More focus on creating memorable and hypnotic soundscapes would go a long way in improving the quality of the bands recording. As it stands though the music feels rushed, with not enough thought put into each section of the music.

Despite the negatives that this album has, and there are a few, I do enjoy listening to it. It’s not something I spin regularly but it’s a rather pleasant and comfortable listen. Some of the sections the band churns out prove they can create some fascinating, memorable and touching music but unfortunately the band is held back by ideas that just aren’t very interesting. More work on the song writing would fix some of the problems I have, but as it stands it’s certainly good if nothing spectacular. You should have a good enough idea whether you want to check this out or not by now.

At Least The Atmosphere Is Decent - 60%

Thumbman, June 10th, 2013

For a band that uses so much negative imagery and features depressive black metal as a big part of their sound, this really is rather pleasant. It prominently draws from elements of shoegaze and its fuzzy and bittersweet nature reminds somewhat of Drudkh. On first listen this is rather solid, but subsequent spins prove that this doesn't quite have staying power. The fuzzy vaguely positive melodies channeled through a wall of sound à la shoegaze really is the only thing carrying it. They execute this aspect of their sound quite well, but that alone doesn't make this EP worthy of regular listening.

The guitar work is characterized by hefty layers of pleasant resonating fuzz. The DSBM aspects of the band are largely toned down. The aforementioned fuzzy nature of the droning tremolo and the band's willingness to explore major scales makes this vaguely reminiscent of Drudkh's wonderful sophomore Autumn Aurora (although obviously nowhere near as brilliant). This is especially present on the second track. Some of the melodies actually sound like something straight out of post rock, although drastically changed in context and production here. While the atmosphere is quite nice, it certainly does fall short of enveloping and doesn't bring to life that old cliché about an atmosphere that can transport you to another world.

This offering isn't complete filler and comprised of an apathetic atmosphere like their later EP Where The Trees Can Make It Rain, but it's not without its shortcomings. The songwriting is pretty much nonexistent. This isn't a bad thing, certainly a shoegaze band (or pretty much any other type of music that's about atmosphere above all else) can write songs with buried songwriting where atmosphere can carry the track, creating an all consuming experience. While strong, this just doesn't happen here. The repetition falls a bit short of hypnotic. The buried shrieks and snarls add another layer of texture, but little else. The drumming is solid enough in itself, plodding along adequately, providing a solid backbone. There are some minor problems with the tone, though. The tone on the bass drum is too muddy and the sound on the cymbals is flat out garbage.

While this sounds good enough while casually listening to a few minutes of it for the first time, further listening shows that it's not such a majestic affair. Yes, the melodic wall of sound thing is done very well, but that's basically the only thing this release has going for it and that alone just isn't enough to carry this to greatness. This is quite pleasant, but it doesn't cut deep. The sounds don't resonate in your head after the running time has drawn to an end. It's adequate, it isn't complete fluff, but many bands have pulled off this type of sound in a much more memorable way. This is passable and not a whole lot more.

In the arms of despair over this recording - 40%

NausikaDalazBlindaz, May 31st, 2013

With as tortured a title as "Unveiling the Silent Arms of Despair", this EP threatens to be an exercise in sonic torture as well. In this respect it does not disappoint: terror exists and so does bleakness in the whirling storm, the vocal is as grim and raspy as any to be found in depressive black metal and the whole thing is intended to be immersive and trance-inducing. So the assumption goes.

But there is a flatness as well, as if the music is playing by the numbers or is so empty it may as well be flat-lining instead. That may have been intended so as to catch the mood of someone with no hope for life, just staring into an inner abyss of blackness and finding nothing there, but in a musical context there needs to be more than capturing a portrait of depression and existential nihilism.

The first part of the EP does a good job in painting the broad canvas of what the work is about though to sit through it for 14 minutes when 10 minutes or fewer have achieved the same effect is another thing. You hope the second track brings something different: there's a brief spark of light, some hope of a glimmer of salvation in the chasms of desolation. The melody that develops promises as much: it has a warm feel about it though it's couched in noisy chainsaw guitar riffs and hoarse, dry screeching. As it unfurls further though, the music is lumbering and monotonous with a heavy plodding beat, and no resolution is reached: an anodyne melody on acoustic guitar and a banal speech about carrying the darkness forever in your being are all we have as remedy.

There's something to be said for depressive black metal that may not offer much in help but serves to assure listeners that they're not the only ones suffering depression; but the best music of this type usually has something extra, something that connects with listeners on a deep personal level, something that tells them the artist has felt their pain and gone through the same or similar torments they are going through now. It doesn't matter if the artist has succeeded or failed to come to terms with depression, or if the music offers a solution or not; the deep connection, the contact with emptiness, is what counts. I don't feel that this music has this extra dimension at all. The speech at the end feels like a slap in the face.

The whole thing really feels like it's going through the motions in a join-the-dots way of what depressive BM should be like. To followers of such music, there is plenty out there done much better, you need not waste your time with this.

Doesn't suck quite as much as I thought - 40%

caspian, June 12th, 2010

It's still not good, mind, but hey, 40%! For some depressive/shoegaze black metal! Relative to the many other bands I've heard of it's ilk (when bored/when doing a review challenge, like in this case) this is positively awesome.

A good enough description would be Alcest at half speed and twice boredom. Big wall of sound-y chords with that vague hopeful/melancholic feel (like "Sunlight streaking through the leaf-strewn Autumnal landscape" or something) playing simple progressions that repeat over and over again, shrieks and screams way back in the mix smoothed out with a bit of reverb, a slow drum beat trudging on and on and on and on. At least there's live drums!

So yeah, it's pretty crappy, but credit where credit's due: there's care put into this. The mix is actually good. The drums are well played. There's a little bit in the way of dynamics. The last part of the first song sounded good, until the riff got repeated into oblivion. This could be worse. Played at a respectable volume, and half gone on alcohol and sleep deprivation, you can find yourself sinking into it for maybe 5 or so minutes, until you finally get a bit tired of hearing that one damn riff repeat again.

At the end of the day though, this is what it is: boring, leaf strewn-autumnal landscape riffs repeating a lot of times, then switching to a similarly leaf strewn riff that's also rather boring. The best of it's genre; i.e a turd painted gold.