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Voidfire – W Cienie

voidfire – w cienie

Info

Voidfire are a Melodic Black Metal group out of Poland and ‘W Ciene’ is their second album. Building on the success of their debut album, the band has taken their rather accessible melodic approach to Black Metal and expanded on it in a more progressive manner. Still a 2 man group, headed by Krzysztof “Virian” Sobczak on vocals and Jakub Zdzienicki on bass and guitar with help from “session member” Łukasz “Icanraz” Sarnacki on drums, the three have delivered another basic, yet stellar album in the genre that pushes the boundaries of their songwriting and goes to show that Black Metal doesn’t have to be loaded with symphonics to be considered melodic. One thing that listeners will notice for sure is that the songs are longer and the musical approach has slowed down a little, such as on ‘Niepewność’ which starts out slow before the furious drumming kicks in and things start to speed up a bit, but overall the pace seems a bit more relaxed, which is part of what makes the music more accessible. Those looking for Judas Iscariot aggression will not find it, but Voidfire is far from a quiet storm. If Eternal Delyria or Agathodaimon were less symphonic or gothic, then they’d be right in sync with a comparison for Voidfire.

Other tracks like ‘Rozmycie’ are a little more atmospheric in their riffs with a little more soaked emotion as Jakub invokes a feeling somewhat Deafheaven inspired meets In Flames, and Krzysztof’s vocals hiss their way along in a more restrained Arch Enemy fashion. The addition of spoken word sections is a bit of a surprise during the calmer moments driven by the melodic interludes/solos and shows a good balance of “heavy meets soft” for the band. As far as “soft” goes there is the short instrumental ‘Wrota,’ but despite the progressive addition it adds to the music, it sounds more like a filler and could have ben added to one of the other tracks to feel like it fits with the album overall. The strongest example- and best track the album has to offer to show Voidfire’s growth and depth in the last 2 years- is ‘Cienie szaleństwa.’ An epic 14 minute piece, this pushes the boundaries of everything that Voidfire has done since and adds plenty of well placed acoustic moments, emotion driven riffs and vocal arrangements, and an almost wintery Insomnium feel to the track, but not quite as Melodic Death charged. The quiet interlude is beautiful before the electrifying outro hits with an excellent solo to boot, so fans of Melodic Black Metal and Melodeath alike will find it a treat.

Oddly the closing ‘Oczyszczenie’ is very different from anything one might expect from Voidfire this far. Absent of the snarls and shrieks and typical tremolo picking fury mixed with melodies, the acoustic repetitive nature of the music is lulling as it may put some listeners to sleep, but compared to the filler nature of track ‘Wrota’ it fits better with the album. The whispered vocals are a bit hard to hear, but this is about as “progressively melodic” as one can get when it comes to Black Metal, minus the “metal” part. Overall, one cannot help but applaud what ‘W Ciene’ has to offer. Voidfire certainly are not resting on the laurels of their debut and rather expanding on their sound, offering another introspective album full of great instrumental moments and strong lyrics (despite being all in Polish). Many might feel the language barrier is a bit of a turn off but there is always Google translate for those interested in what they have to say. Melodic Black and Death Metal fans will find this collection of somber, yet energetic tracks a good listen for those who like guitar and vocal driven music without a saturation of keyboards or programming, while still pertaining a sense of wonder overall to the music. This isn’t quite 90s Melodeath/Meloblack, but it will appeal to those who enjoy the sound of late 90s/early 2000s metal.

Voidfire

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