Poisoned Void

Without music, life would be a mistake.

Up for review are a group of gentlemen hailing from the grim waters of Finland. Vorum is a seasoned group of musicians, having been together since 2009. Now signed to Woodcut Records, Poisoned Void is their latest, following a three year wait after a split with Vasaeleth entitled Profane Limbs of Ruinous Death and their first record back in ‘09 titled Grim Death Awaits. Now back with this brutal full length, Vorum brings the thunder with a record of unrelenting, skull-splitting, coma-inducing metal. Elegantly mixed to ensure all four members cut through loud and clear, the drums boom behind a wall of crushing guitars, topped perfectly with haunting vocals that are neither drowned out nor overbearing. Given their genre, its easy to fall prey to the ever present need to be as grim and kvlt as possible. This generally means sacrificing recording and production quality, which in this day and age is absolutely unnecessary. Poisoned Void is a perfect example of a quality recording sounding as kvlt as you can get while still maintaining the artistic integrity of the musicians that put all the time and effort into writing and recording the album. I think anyone in the black metal world should take a hint from the Vorum playbook, you don’t need to record with a potato to be grim.

One song that stuck out to me was “Death Stains”. The second song off the record opening with an unbelievably groovy riff that honestly caught me off guard in the best possibly way. In true black metal fashion, they then drop into a high speed barrage of blast beats and trem picking. Despite it being the shortest on the record, its still one of my favorites. It strikes me given all of the groove and power packed into such a small time frame. Throughout this whole record, you’re flung from franticly fast riffs to heavy as hell, down and dirty grooves that make you want to just start banging your head like a lunatic. All in all, this is an impressive record. From the writing and execution of brutally groovy riffs to the overall production quality. I can confidently recommend anyone who hasn’t heard this record yet to get ahold of it and blast it loud, or if you’re even more fortunate, go see them live. Their next upcoming appearances include the Jalometalli fest in Finland with legendary names on the bill such as Aborted, 3 Inches of Blood, Voivod, Blasphemy, and Slayer!