The Suffocating Void – Still Life EP
Minimalist blackened crust project from the remnants of modern civilization.
“Something has changed. Radically. And for the worst.”, begins his essay called “The Suffocating Void” influential anarcho-primitivist Kevin Tucker. In this writing, Tucker issues a dire warning on the technological void opened up by the Internet and social media in particular.
Taking their name from this essay, comes the anti-civ leaning blackened crust band The Suffocating Void with their debut Still Life EP. After reviewing Scavengers Circle, here’s another two-piece crust project from Sweden that recently grabbed my attention.
The five-track starts with a haunting atmosphere straight outta old-school black metal textbook, which then turns into a wrecking crust of devastation. The blackened vocals here are absolutely sinister, while the rhythm comes from a constant barrage of programmed d-beats and dark synth sounds.
As the tempo picks up, a fair amount of blasts and tremolo picking can be heard, adding to the intensity and giving the songs a rough edge. But they don’t stop there, adding some classic Tragedy-style melodramatic crust elements to spice things up a bit. Especially on the fourth song “Unfit for Life”, which I think is my favorite of the whole album. I think it’s great how such a minimalist project can sound so raw and catchy at the same time, taking elements from both old school and modern black metal, death rock, Scandinavian käng punk and crust.
Throw in some desperate lyrics about the terrible future that late capitalism has in store for all of us, and you’ve got a really interesting record that I’m sure has flown way under your radar.
