From Belgium, comes Blackened Sludge Metal band PREDATORY VOID, and their debut album titled "Seven Keys to the Discomfort of Being." "Grovel" is the first. The opening tones are low and slow, but from there, a Death Metal blueprint with Black Metal vocals ensues. There are some depressive Sludge elements as well, especially as the song waves in and out of hardened passages followed by clean ones. The clean vocals after the half-way mark are haunting, as the sound descends further and further down. "*(struggling...)" features hopeless sounds and peaks of rage from the vocals. The dissonance in the guitars and the sterile clean vocals furthers these feelings.

"Endless Return to the Kingdom of Sleep" has a slow entrance, with depressive clean vocals. It creates a world of grey, a world of the same day after another, endlessly repeating. There are few things in life that are worse than this. "Seeds of Frustration" enters with a bit more of an expansive sound, mostly from the ambiance of death that grows throughout. Talk about sad...this song is full of it. "The Well Within" is as angry and full of rage as it is deeply desperate. The combination of these two elements is well done on the album. The pace quickens for a bit and then retreats, into a deep cave. "Shedding Weathered Skin" falls more to the side of despair than anything else. The screams are so violent, yet so full of frustration.

The lengthy "Funerary Vision" closes the album. The horrid and filthy sound culminates in this slow-mover, full of anguish and sorrow. Overall, this was a solid album, featuring a combination of hopelessness with anger. My biggest critique is probably that the harsh vocals are shouted in nearly the same exact key throughout the album. The clean vocals help to diversify their sound, however. Although the sound is wickedly depressing, some more variation from track to track would help the album stand out.