The Void 2016

Co-credited to the Void Pacific Choir - a name derived from a D.H. Lawrence quote - These Systems Are Failing is only slightly more collaborative than Moby's solitary ambient work, and its effect is the opposite of that. Fully energized and tightly concentrated, the producer's first studio album in three years is a concise and infrequently relenting set of songs that rail against those who have caused emotional and planetary harm. Moby revisits his punk and post-punk roots with a needling attack. Battering programmed drums, searing synthesizers, and torrents of rhythm guitar serve as prodding backdrops for his belting, often multi-tracked vocals. (The actual choir, a seven-member group including Moby, appears on two songs.) All the chanted choruses and seething verses over riotous rhythms evoke an apocalyptic glam-punk protest of sorts…

Sequentonal, Berlin School from Galway, Ireland. A trip through the Void, heading towards uncertainty.

So consistent have Dark Tranquillity's albums been throughout the years, that it ironically takes an especially spectacular effort like 2010's We Are the Void to make one realize that the prior few - specifically 2005's Character and 2007's Fiction - had actually left something wanting. Yes, both of those releases boasted several standout songs, yet, as a whole, they retroactively seem somewhat unexciting as compared to We Are the Void‘s significant boosting of DT's alchemical interaction between death metal ferocity and melodic sensitivity. For as foreign as the notion of "hooks" may be to extreme metal's fundamental principles, the fact is that this latest long-player is just dripping with them - whether they take shape as contagious guitar lines, plaintive synthesizer figures, or even Mikael Stanne's fearsome death growl…

Breaking from the strange monotony and abnormal norms that took hold during two years of pandemic life, Hammock returns with Love in the Void, an album that looks to the future, seizes the present, and unabashedly relishes the experiences and bonds that bring meaning to our days. Known for crafting orchestral works of stirring cinematic ambience, on Love in the Void the Nashville-based duo of Marc Byrd and Andrew Thompson bring guitar-forward, heart-pounding urgency to songs that shout through and shatter the static of complacency.

With a command of countless genres and a vast list of credits, composer/guitarist Jason Schimmel is a musical polymath whose talents know no bounds. A long time member of Trey Spruance’s legendary ensemble Secret Chiefs 3, his brilliant guitar work embraces a wide variety of traditions and styles, from blues, jazz and surf rock to Balkan folk and heavy metal. Visions of the Void is his masterpiece, an intense program of eclectic music that jumps quickly and seamlessly from one style to another. Years in the making, this is powerfully imaginative instrumental music by an all star ensemble of masters at the top of their game.