Seattle-based dissonant blackened death metal quartet Voidthrone have just dropped a lyric video for their new single “Surfing The Abyss”. It’s the second taste of what’s to come from their fourth studio album, Dreaming Rat, which is slated for release on May 8.
The band haven’t exactly played it safe with this one, describing the track as a bit of a genre-bending madness that features, of all things, a vibraslap and a “honky-tonk” section. It’s got those classic Tom G. Warrior inspired “ugh!” vocalizations and some properly tasty fretless bass work from Gavin Brooks. According to the lads, it’s black-death metal with some “absurd genre touchstones” thrown in for good measure.
Dreaming Rat is structured as a three-part cosmic death ritual, following parallel stories of a dying solar system, a collapsing civilization, and a parasite replicating itself across language, culture, and flesh. The band have traded in some of their older atmospheric murk for a mix that’s sharper, meaner, and more frenetic. Vocalist Zhenya Frolov is reportedly turning in his most unhinged performance yet, ranging from death-metal lows to ritualistic howls.
If you’re a fan of Imperial Triumphant, Deathspell Omega, or just the general heat death of the universe, this is probably right up your street. The album was produced and mixed by the band’s own Ronald Foodsack and features some pretty wild instrumentation, including an otamatone and a jaw harp.
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The full tracklist for Dreaming Rat is:
Arc 2
- II-I. Homeless Animal
- II-II. Morbid Seagull
- II-III. Ren Omega
Arc 1
- I-I. Bergen
- I-II. Dreaming Rat
- I-III. First Blood
Arc 3
- III-I. Surfing the Abyss
- III-II. The Dying Squid
- III-III. Worm Spiral
You can pre-order the album on Bandcamp now. It feels like the Pacific Northwest crew are continuing to master their own brand of “Moral Distress Metal,” lurching between genres while keeping that anxiety-inducing wrongness front and centre. If you want to see what else we’ve covered in the world of extreme metal lately, head over to our reviews section to get your fill.
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Header image by DiGruccio Photography
Voidthrone: facebook | instagram | bandcamp | youtube
