ALBUM REVIEW: Antre – Void

Here I review the debut full length album of UK Atmospheric Black Metallers ANTRE! Set for release on February 22nd via Withered Hand Records!

1. Suffer The Light starts off with guitar ambience, clean and tranquil, setting a rather peaceful mood to begin a Black Metal album, certainly an interesting choice. Melancholically dissonant waves cascade forth with a minimalist approach that allows the piece to smoothly flow into blistering assaults that are filled with melodic guitars, blast beats and harsh screams. A formidable attack following such spectral clean work, the punchiness of the instrumentals kick the track into overdrive, matched by the abrupt howls from the vocalist. The song is a really catchy and well balanced opening piece. The upbeat crashing drums and grooving riffs are monolithic and the use of basic guitar leads really elevates the rest of the piece. Great work.
2. Fear The Old Blood already grabs my attention with the blatant reference to my favourite video game “Bloodborne” as a song title. The track kicks in with bleak discordant guitars, an alluring onset for the piece. Doomy guitars, slow paced drums and yelled vocals certainly caught me off guard, quite an avant-garde flare to a Black Metal album, I am a big fan of unpredictability. Blistering drums and riffs soon begin to grind out total spite with blistering vocal howls and ferocious sounds being drive out at full speed. There is some really piercing melodies in the guitars that are captivating and work strongly with the vocals. The punky elements to the song were an interesting and pretty awesome addition that lead into upbeat grooves and lead guitars beautifully. Glorious!
3. Denisovan slows things down with gorgeous acoustic guitars, another unexpected change in direction for the album. The haunting, sombre melodies are absolutely stunning, really adding to the emotive vibes of the release. This track provides a lovely interval, allowing momentum to rebuild. Another bold move that, yet again, pays off. The synths were also a beautiful touch to the track. Excellent.
4. Into Oblivion sets in with feedback followed by a screech from the vocalist and more melancholic yet aggression driven riffs. Cascading darkness convulses from the instruments of the whole band with some brilliant songwriting that just drives out disdain. The groove of the piece is captivating while the dissonance and punchiness keeps you enticed. The almost spoken word parts over cleaner guitars and thunderous bass with punchy drums is a really cool addition that files back into blistering melodies once again. I thoroughly enjoyed the balance and diversity this song had to offer, a really interesting one to listen to. Fantastic.
5. Tyrant belts out more catchy grooves, with some awesome old school Black Metal vibes to the guitar riffs before we are thrown into more harshly driven grinding sections, impacting drums and gnarly growls. The intricately woven fabric of the song structure is really well put together and allows for an unnerving and macabre soundscape to be conjured up beautifully. This piece was a really cool one, totally ferocious!
6. Guided By Nightmares fires into more cataclysmic riffs and intricate drum patters with some epic snarled vocals. The cosmic dissonance of the full band is intensely profound and gloriously executed with the sweeps of darkened riffs and pulverising drum hits. The vocalist has incredibly speed but also clarity to the vocals that are very concise and punchy, suiting the song perfectly. While insanely aggressive the song also has some primal, slower doomy parts that allow the transcendency of the piece to grow even further. An absolutely wonderful track, it really brings a nice mixed approach to the genre and sound of the band, showing great use of variation.
7. The Frozen Deep follows up with more acoustic guitars, depressive yet beautiful. Much like the third track, it is kept simplistic but is incredibly relaxing, really heightening the senses for the impacting extremities that lay ahead. I really liked the strong fuzzy guitar ambience backing up the acoustics riffs. Unlike a lot of intervals, these pieces do feel like the same amount of effort went into creating them rather than something that was just thrown together for effect. Kudos.
8. Infinite Abyss drops us into with fully rejuvenated energy. The ferocious grinding drums and hectic guitars really bring the punishing throttle of the album back into full swing. Snarled, howling vocals and lead guitars add blisteringly hateful energy over the convulsive rhythms. The churning and menacing approach to this track is totally barbaric with aggression being thrown from every angle but also tinges of self-loathing in some of the more depressive vocal sections. Once more, doomy elements with soaring guitars add to the spectral soundscape of the song very nicely. This track was my favourite from the album, marvellous!
9. Beyond These Skies is the finishing track for this album. Coming in with Pallbearer style chords that add a brooding contempt yet really heart-wrenching sound to the final song, truly like the album itself is saddened by its oncoming ending, a really cool touch. Soon we are hurled back into the cosmic void of furious instrumentals and high screams that blister out one more morbid helping of truly depraved sounding Black Metal. The sheer melancholy within the more obvious fury of the piece is a gorgeous combination and the execution is just as well crafted. An upbeat and unrelenting, warm and glorious ending.

This is an incredibly strong debut album. Atmospheric and bleak Black Metal with plenty of melody, piercing dissonance and even some punk elements thrown in for good measure. A balanced and unique release that is gruesomely despairing yet filled with raw hatred. Another strong addition to England’s Black Metal scene. A great foundation for the band, I am sure this is not going to be the last we hear from them. -7.5/10