To the Great Monolith II

Yet again, I’ve managed to stumble ass-backwards into a terrifically haunting record, thanks to the almighty, all-knowing, and all-powerful youtube algorithm. Zurich’s Death. Void. Terror.’s second album, “To the Great Monolith II” is an atmospheric trip into the darkness of the void, and without even having heard this band’s first album, I can say with confidence, that if it’s anything like the sequel, it’s great. This band rules.

This band belongs to a Swiss Black Metal collective known as the Helvetic Underground Committee. I tried to click on their blogspot, but my Google Chrome popped up and told me “Whoa! You’re about to get a shitload of viruses and get your credit card info stolen! This site is fucked! What kind of band is this?” So I didn’t click on the link. I may not fear eternal damnation, but malware scares the shit out of me. That being said, if the rest of the bands in the H.U.C. sound anything like Death.Void.Terror., they’re a powerful faction worthy of respect.

Everything on this record sounds like it was recorded in a cave inside the wrong mountain on the wrong side of the alps. Every instrument is soaked in reverb or delay, creating a cacophony of noise that is at the very least, unsettling, if not terrifying. The atmosphere on this record is top-tier. A few of the tracks have ambient prefaces that only add to the feeling that the one listening to this record is about to get their ass beat with the dissonant baseball bat of the void.

This record is one of the more pissed-off black metal releases I’ve heard in a while. This music marches; it trudges along with anger and purpose. This band doesn’t feel the need to the switch riffs on a dime. They’re perfectly happy working a single riff to exhaustion, and while this may sound like a derogatory statement, it’s not. The riffs they start out with are powerful, and they add and subtract elements of it to give it whole new dynamics. This band achieves the one thing I find necessary to make a great record, which is self-sacrifice. There is no wankery or ego-stroking on this album. Every instrument serves the whole, and as a result, the whole is a product that this band can be truly proud of.

Listened to in the right setting, this album will take you places. It’s an excellent album to listen to and focus on, but where this album really shines is when you put it on and work on something else. I love albums that I can put on and escape, and this record is an excellent soundtrack to the darker trains of thought. Put this record on and let your mind wander. It’s a good time.

Death. Void. Terror. is a band that interests and puzzles me, and I can only hope that they complete the trilogy of The Great Monolith, because “To the Great Monolith II” is a truly powerful offering.