Emptiness, a Belgian extreme metal band, has always been known for their visceral and dissonant sound, which often mirrors existential dysphoria. Their latest album, 'Nowhere Speaks', continues this tradition, but with a twist. The album is a self-referential horror, a circular journey that connects their past albums, 'Nothing But the Whole' and 'Vide'.
One of the most intriguing aspects of 'Nowhere Speaks' is its recording process. Unlike their previous albums, which were recorded by each member in isolation, this one was recorded live all at once in the studio. This reassembling works as a metaphor for the album's sound, which reconstructs many of Emptiness' elements in both familiar and unfamiliar ways.
The album is the opposite of immediate; everything about it creeps. The dark melodies and restlessly stalking tempos are only the half of it. The music's atmosphere incarnates as disso-death moodiness, blurriness of noisy atmo-black, warped, static-scattered ambience, and tremolos that feel almost warm until they aren't. The highest points are the culmination of these apparent inconsistencies, some new genre Emptiness have been crafting all this time.
While the nuanced and unusual textures are intriguing, they sometimes veer towards a mélange that's too understated. Emptiness have absolutely nailed the vibe, and much of 'Nowhere Speaks' does capitalize on the magical combination of pseudo-dissonant guitar, smothering dark ambience, and unusual compositional shapes. However, the wavering vagaries in the midpoints and margins threaten to fade too far into the background.
Emptiness are evidently believers in the virtue of patience, answering the open question of 'Nothing But the Whole' more than a decade after it was posed. 'Nowhere Speaks' is no anomaly; give it time, and it spreads out like a great gulf of nothing. It may have taken many listens, but I'm now so immersed in the void of beautiful nothingness Emptiness have created, that it's hard to remember I ever really had my doubts.
In my opinion, 'Nowhere Speaks' is a very good album, with a rating of 9 out of 10. It's a must-listen for fans of extreme metal and those who appreciate the band's unique sound and experimental approach.
