VOIDMILKER is a black metal band from Chile. 'Labyrinthical' is their debut album.  This is actually a one-man project, the mastermind behind it being Gabriel Hugo, of another blackened band called LASCAR. 'Labyrinthical' is an extremely dark and moody piece of music. Even for an often misanthropic genre such as black metal, this album is really down under the depths of darkness. The production is a miasma that allows the songs to languish through these haunted passages.  But this type of sorrow isn't "sad boi" but more along the lines of a searing hate that reached its zenith and burnt to a crisp, so disgusted with everything that only a bitter remnant of a hollow shell could sustain what could only very cynically be called life.

It's those same feelings that also give it an edge-yes, this album has a lot of atmosphere but it doesn't ride on that alone. Furious drums, acidic and bloody riffs, and deep bass also make sure this album has as much guts and guile as it is expansive in its depths. Opening track, 'Decades,' exemplifies everything I just wrote. The song weaves its magic through riffs that hit hard when needed or take a more subtle, melodic tinge. The drums are of the same mindset, always interesting, but not always a battering ram but a much needed foundation that provides a pathway for the song to steer along. 'Abomination of Desolation,' churns like brackish, hellish waters. The riffs build up and crash against the drums, breaking down into a pensive passage that gives in around the 1:40 mark to a dark tone that becomes a wall of sound marked by the briefest moments of clarity.

Around the 3:27 mark, the wreckage burns away to reveal a clean skeleton, a monument to what once was. The melodic build up is truly great and it ends the song perfectly and effortlessly. 'Cosmic Summon' is immediate but mixed in with a melody that recalls sunlight touching upon a frozen world but still not able to thaw it. The vocals and drums get more raw and brazen as the song pushes ever forward into sweeping melancholic movements near the song's end. I love how every second of this song feels important, each note built upon the last but creating a new identity for the next note to latch onto. 'Birth of Trepidation,' is a song that does seem rife with cautious, nervous energy. The textures are both gentle and violent but also arcane and coated with a mysterious wonderment. The last couple minutes of the song arch into a crescendo of exploring blacked elements that summarize the song and album as a whole.

VOIDMILKER has released a stunning album that is unique enough to stand on its own yet familiar enough for fans of black metal or extreme metal in general to dive right into this bleak, desolate, and yet engaging, world.