I Am the Void

Sweden's Eucharist has long been one of the best kept secrets in melodic death metal, coming into the genre at the height of its popularity to release two moderately underrated albums. For some time, 1997's Mirrorworlds stood as the band's swansong, a blistering display of infectious creativity that also managed not to overstay its welcome. Twenty-five years later and Eucharist has returned, albeit in a form that many fans may not recognize.

Plenty of bands have successfully transitioned between death metal and black metal before, and it can sometimes make for a fairly unique blend of influences. Sadly, though, I Am the Void is primarily black metal by numbers. The Swedish scene has had this problem for decades, of course, and Eucharist borrows heavily from that book without introducing anything particularly different or interesting.

A small handful of tracks echo distant memories of better days. If the rest of the album held up to the likes of "Mistress of Nightmares," "Queen of Hades," or the titletrack, this might have at least made for a decent listen. Unfortunately, the bulk of the record consists of predictable and bland chord progressions with little in the way of melody, vocals that are nothing to write home about, and drumming so robotic I had to check to make sure it wasn't actually a drum machine that was used.

The run time for I Am the Void clocks in at 76 minutes as well, which is a bit longer than their first two albums combined. At this length, the lackluster elements really stand out and listening gradually starts to feel like a chore. It's not that this is necessarily bad music - the musicianship is competent and there's a proven track record of talent here. But neither of those things can substitute for creativity, and this is truly the album's biggest flaw: mediocrity in black metal, a genre so often characterized by mediocrity, is doubly fatal.

I Am the Void is likely to disappoint both black metal fans and longtime fans of Eucharist. With At the Gates having made somewhat of a successful comeback in recent years, perhaps these guys should once more take inspiration from one of their likely influences and stick with what they know best.