Band's List Black Metal Trancelike Void Unveiling the Silent Arms of Despair

I was quite caution going into this release, I had heard good things and bad things about Trancelike Void's music so I wasn't sure what to expect. I had heard that this album is hypnotic and trance inducing by one group of people and flat out boring and repetitive by another. Fortunately I found that the music of this Belgium act falls into the former, Trancelike Void's music really is trancelike. The music on this release could best be described as Alcest at half speed and twice the Black Metal, to put it plainly this is Blackgaze that focuses almost predominantly on the Black. Much of the conventions of Black Metal are here, hazy distorted riffs, shrieked vocals, murky production yep definetely Black Metal. This is quite a unique release within the Blackgaze spectrum, although really you can't expect much variation within this genre because there isn't much room to expand upon, this release manages to be fairly unique and original in it's own right and the result is a very enjoyable albeit rather short listening experience.

What I like most about Blackgaze is the melody and atmosphere on display. The atmosphere within the genre is much more uplifting and hopeful than standard Black Metal. The melody is also other worldly and ethereal creating wonderful dreamy textures that flow perfectly throughout the album. As a result Blackgaze is much more accessible than conventional Black Metal and I find it slightly more enjoyable. Although Unveiling the Silent Arms of Despair can hardly be considered accessible, there is two tracks with a total running time of over twenty minutes the music still portrays an aura of happiness and hope that is completely absent within much of the genre. The music isn't upbeat by any means though, the tracks are all of a slow pace, minimalism is key here but still this is fairly uplifting especially when compared to acts like Hypothermia and Trist.

The music featured here isn't really ground breaking but it does however focus much more on the Black Metal element of Blackgaze. Although bands like Alcest create a hybrid of the two genres, finding the middle ground between the two, Trancelike Void lean much more closer to Depressive Black Metal than Alcest and any other Blackgaze bands with the exception of Shroud Of Distress. The production is fairly lo-fi, the overall sound is very murky, there's no desire to be made easy listening here. The guitars are hazy, suitably distorted, they sound very dark and are able to counter act much of the primary aesthetics of Blackgaze. Within the music, buried under distortion and muddy production is a profound sense of melody and hope, hard as that may be to believe. The melodies themselves are quite uplifting and are certainly not depressing in anyway. There is a notable bass presence on display here, although an inaudible bassist is a rarity in most Black Metal, Trancelike Void are able to go against the grain and intergrate it perfectly into the music, the bass has a lot of reverb to it and souds very cold and desolate. The drums also have a lot of reverb on them, I'm not sure if this was intentional but either way it works, I like the way they echo throughout the music, it gives the music a light and airy feel to it. The vocals although hard to make out are quite typical of Depressive Black Metal, they're the usual high pitched distant shrieking. There is a lot of distortion on the vocals and like I said before are difficult to make out but to be fair vocals in bands like these only act like an instrument to further enhance the music so no complaints here.

Overall this is quite an enjoyable little release, although the material present is fairly short, not much over twenty four minutes, the music is still plenty enjoyable to garner repeated listens. Although this release is likely not for everyone I would still recommend it for people looking for some darker and bleaker Blackgaze than usual along with Be Happy by Shroud Of Distress.
Overall rating- 18/20