Void – Forbidden Morals (Theatrical Horror Thrash)
We’ve got that spooking coming soon, and what better way to prepare us for that mood than a band that utilizes its heavy metal magic to craft stories about vampires, castles, bats, and the like, right? I almost didn’t review this, because, generally, I avoid bands with huge fan bases. But, at times, I need to give the big names a chance not because I think my little voice will matter any, but because if a band has that much attention, they must be doing something right, right? Well shit I’m right again because not only do vampires, horror, and heavy metal work in the right ways in Void’s Forbidden Morals, this is also the right kind of band to do it. And I’ve got my theme now, right? Rarely does the grandeur of heavy metal and the menace of thrash work so well together. This was inevitable.
These guys are so good at what they do I thought they came from a country in Europe with a high castle to population ratio. One thing this band gets right, which so few do, is they understand the theatrical nature of what they’re doing, not to mention this is a different approach for thrash. Taking the often pompous and overbearing nature of heavy metal and fusing it with thrash metal’s tendency towards the eerie, and you get Void. With only one full-length and a ton of singles to their name before Forbidden Morals, the band’s focus on vintage horror is of particular note. The angle can come off as redundant due to its familiar nature, stretching back to the monster phenomenon of old that lasted as a phenomenon into the 1970s. But Void have found the tipping point that casts them from the cliffs of cliché into pits of real terror. Do Phantom of the Opera and Vlad the Impaler references still work? In this case, yes. Void succeed because they never allow themselves to appear satirical, but yet their amazing skill in songwriting also does not permit the listener to perceive them as overly sincere. Theatrics only work when the band is deadly serious. Moments of calm, like “Valeria,” show the band’s versatility and the riffs they craft, bolstered by vocals delivered by a true orator, are powerful enough to create a legitimate castle of the art on American soil, stone by stone.
Written by Stanley, Devourer of Souls
Void – Forbidden Morals
Shadow Kingdom Records
Cover Art: Nick Flook (Flooko)
4.6 / 5
