VoidCeremony - Threads of Unknowing Review

It took me a while to realize that this band is comprised of a few highly skillful and talented individuals, who sometimes do not go down the regularized death metal framework in their musical projects. Having been (and still until now) oblivious of their debut full length album Entropic Reflections Continuum: Dimensional Unravel, released in 2020, I was drawn to this new work initially because of its vividly purple colored front cover (done by Juanjo Castellano). 

 

With that in mind, one of VoidCeremony's composers is the guitarist also involved in Worm, Atramentus, First Fragment and Chthe'ilist, yet under this name the compositional aspect blows out of proportions when it comes to complexity and technicality. Structures are completely dismantled in Threads of Unknowing, where each track is chopped into a lot of pieces and then all are seemingly glued back together into a random order, yet there lies the splendor of such exceptionally well thought material. Jazz elements luxuriate the album and strongly drive the tracks  towards the baffling orbits that it resides within, resulting in superlative and grossly expressive pieces. 

 

These playing techniques are especially obvious in the masterful bass work as well as the guitar solos, which feel like the first time one would listen to the solos from Destroy Erase Improve. Main guitar lines squeeze dismal energy from distant sources, like the cutting riff fluidity of Immolation or the procedural temperament of Demilich, as Threads of Unknowing might as well leave the listener starstruck if one does not expect this kind of musicianship from the band. 

 

Lyric-wise, the record is also quite creative and offers intriguing text to dive into, going great along the vile but harmonious instrumentation. VoidCeremony combines the two aforementioned genres brilliantly, without losing sight neither of the necessary brutality nor the technical playing style, and in a way it clearly sounds as death metal but with a powerful convolution inside jazz, stemming from the band's impressive instrument abilities. 

 

I would only potentially skip the instrumental piece "At the Periphery of Human Realms (The Immaterial Grave)" in future listens, but interest is replenished by the following, closing and also longest track "Forlorn Portrait: Ruins of an Ageless Slumber", which is spectacular at 11 minutes length. On the other hand, Threads of Unknowing opens with a short and sweet, fantastic track "Threads of Unknowing (The Paradigm of Linearity)", at only 3 minutes, but generally VoidCeremony show that they can create solid tracks under any context. 

 

While other records try hard to be as heavy as possible, this one provides pure pleasure just by listening to the guys playing, and is additionally quite heavy in the process. There's not much to complain for the album, it is exquisite and of high quality across all aspects, then it falls on personal taste how much to indulge in it.

Out on April 14th, 2023 | 20 Buck Spin

DAMAGE: 4/5 [Excellent]