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Voidless Form - I, Nihilist review




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Reviewer:
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6 users:
5.5
Band: Voidless Form
Album: I, Nihilist
Release date: May 2016


01. I, Nihilist

As the ardent fan can tell you, there's something about the drone genre that is fundamentally paradoxical. To the outsider it appears as a somewhat pointless formula: formless music with no real sense of guidance or structure. But what if, in some inexplicable way, the lack of a structure demands the exploration of new, rather atypical ones, thereby fueling the creative process? Enter Voidless Form, a band committed to sailing these uncharted waters.

Voidless Form, the one man project of Radu Pătroiu (plus guests), employs a style of music that I like to think of as "expansionist drone metal." Much like Sunn O))) with Monoliths & Dimensions, the music on this year's I, Nihilist is drone, but it's a somewhat shaky label, for it is also so much more than that. A significant variety of stylistic influences encircle this drone core, as moons orbiting a large planet, creating a complex, yet truly stimulating listening experience. Though maintaining its drone underbelly, at times the music here will shift into territories of folk (augmented by the use of several nonmetal instruments), doom, psychedelia, and bizarre, mind-numbing electronic effects, and more, seemingly blurring the lines between each of these influences entirely.

This sort of musical approach, then, can easily make I, Nihilist feel as though it spins in a ton of different directions, without being quite sure of where it wants to go exactly. But, taking the album lyrics into consideration, this sort of songwriting only makes sense. Highly existential and dreamlike, they seem to be questioning reality itself, reflecting an individual's sense of fear and awe as they realize that nothing can truly be known, and explore the nature of thought itself. Fittingly then, the music seems to mirror this stream-of-consciousness nature of the lyrics. As the individual explores the nature of reality, and his thoughts go wheresoever they may choose, the music follows suit in pouring a plethora of different sounds and styles into its drone foundation, going wheresoever it may choose.

For so monumental and forward-thinking a release, I, Nihilist is not without its few slip ups. The smoothness of transition from one style into the next could be worked on a bit in the future, and I'd personally like to see less use (perhaps none at all) of the "sung" vocal approach and more of the straight narrative, spoken word type technique employed at the album's start, as it seems to suit the surreal nature of the music far better. Yet at the end of the day, Voidless Form deserves more praise for what I, Nihilist is than shunning for what it isn't. And what it is is an ambitious, incredibly intriguing journey into the subconscious. Fans of drone, or experimental music in general, do not pass this one up.

Share and show our guy Radu some love. He's more than earned it.





Written on 15.06.2016 by Metal Storm’s own Babalao. Comforting the disturbed and disturbing the comfortable since 2013.


Comments

Comments: 6   Visited by: 204 users
15.06.2016 - 10:59
LuciferOfGayness
Account deleted
Last time I tried it, it was a bit messy (sorry Radu), Ill try it again though. Good review as always.
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15.06.2016 - 23:40
Bad English
Tage Westerlund
Patriot Radu would sound better lolm but damn wise words about drone, nobody cane xplain this formula, I agree whit review. a weird album to even try figure out a thing about it but nice, made for drone lovers.
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16.06.2016 - 04:54
Auntie Sahar
Drone Empress
Written by Guest on 15.06.2016 at 10:59

Last time I tried it, it was a bit messy

It can feel that way at points, yeah, like I said I think some of the transitions from one style into the next need to be worked out a bit more. Part of being really good at that, I think, is knowing how to find those "invisible threads" of similarities between genres/styles... it starts with asking yourself the question of "what features does X genre have that Y genre has as well," and the door is just thrown open from there.

Overall though, I think this album is way more awesome and creative than it is sloppy and poorly written. Part of why I enjoyed it so much is because I love the idea of combining other genres with drone, although I still think that for this year Wolvserpent have nailed that the best so far
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I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go.

~ II. VII
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16.06.2016 - 12:51
LuciferOfGayness
Account deleted
Written by Auntie Sahar on 16.06.2016 at 04:54

Written by Guest on 15.06.2016 at 10:59

Last time I tried it, it was a bit messy

It can feel that way at points, yeah, like I said I think some of the transitions from one style into the next need to be worked out a bit more. Part of being really good at that, I think, is knowing how to find those "invisible threads" of similarities between genres/styles... it starts with asking yourself the question of "what features does X genre have that Y genre has as well," and the door is just thrown open from there.

Overall though, I think this album is way more awesome and creative than it is sloppy and poorly written. Part of why I enjoyed it so much is because I love the idea of combining other genres with drone, although I still think that for this year Wolvserpent have nailed that the best so far

The question is how much time and effort one should spend searching for those "invisible threads". Pretty much every album I adore took some effort but then again such album needs a theme that hooks me up after some listenings - and I am not sure that this one has that.

And on Wolvserpent
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17.06.2016 - 05:52
Maratha

Just dug into it. Sounds too experimental, but the overall result goes extremely well with the name of the band / name of the album. I admit listening through this album is quite an exercise, you just cannot listen this with anyone else around.
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17.06.2016 - 06:27
Auntie Sahar
Drone Empress
Written by Maratha on 17.06.2016 at 05:52

Just dug into it. Sounds too experimental, but the overall result goes extremely well with the name of the band / name of the album. I admit listening through this album is quite an exercise, you just cannot listen this with anyone else around.

Yeah, probably a good point, although then again, there's very little music of this nature that I listen to with other people to begin with (although sometimes I'll throw on some Bong or Nadja with my girl before bed, hehe )

I think it's mostly meant to be enjoyed in personal solitude and meditation. I don't disagree with you with or LOG that there is a bit too much going on here to the point of it at times feeling overwhelming, but I like the general ideas being played with very much, with a bit more refinement I bet that Radu could have quite the potent project
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I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go.

~ II. VII
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