Another ugly fucking gem of an album going unnoticed? We think not. Emptiness is a Belgian death metal band formed by members of Enthroned, and although they don’t tour much or step out into the spotlight too often, they deliver quality awesome fucking death metal, never failing to bust out staggering albums on a regular basis. Their latest opus is Error, a horrific masterpiece of noisy and surreal death metal. While the execution and delivery of the music is at par with what you would expect with the top ranks in the genre, what’s incredible about this band is it’s crazy fucking sound.
No other death metal band has managed to bust out a sound so horrifying, weird and absurd as Emptiness. This band sounds like My Bloody Valentine, Butthole Surfers, Godflesh or “Vae Solis”-era Scorn playing Gorguts. We shit you not. The speed, precision, crazy time signatures, technicality and brutality are all there, but on top, is a massive layer of noisy cacophony that takes the whole thing to a whole new level of sonic devastation. The aforementioned Gorguts are most definitely an influence on the boys, as like the Canadian legends, the boys also base their music on total unpredictability and uncontrollable mayhem, but so are Deathspell Omega, Immolation, Bolt Thrower (re-evoked through massive neck-snapping grooves), Portal and even Mayhem and Emperor. But Emptiness’ absurd sonic presence goes even beyond its clear influences. The Fender-based guitar tone creates a surreal buzzing overtone, while the use of vintage amps and unconventional instruments like a piccolo bass adds layer on layer of weirdness in a manner rarely seen elsewhere in the realm of blackened death metal. Certain moments of the album are downright experimental and pure noise tracks slither out of the blastbeats and mayhem and crush everything into a mortiferous stasis. On top of everything reigns unstoppable an impeccable songwriting and a pummeling of simply awesome fucking riffs. We could not brag enough about how immense this album sounds and what a severe sonic beating it delivers. Oaky, it’s been out for a while, but who cares, if you haven’t heard it, your life has just gotten better.
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