Void Commander Post “Shroom Bloody Shroom” Video
The email came in via Bandcamp and was simple enough, advising in no uncertain terms I take a peak at the new Void Commander video for the track “Shroom Bloody Shroom” from the band’s 2021 sophomore LP, River Lord. Well, alright. I do what I’m told.
It was a note from Olde Magick Records, which released the tape version of River Lord, while the LP was on Majestic Mountain and Ozium Records, with the latter also handling the CD edition. I missed the seven-songer when it came out, so took the serendipitously-timed video as a cue that I should dig in.
No regrets upon doing so — I even bought the tape from Olde Magick, so I guess email marketing still works sometimes — and finding the band’s pastoralist Sabbathian heavy blues rock stretched across the 37 minutes of River Lord. Each piece of the entirety offers something to differentiate it from the others, be it the bluesed-out solo in opening title-track, the tempo 
kick amid the Kings of Frog Island-esque lazy-day swing in “Stoner Eyes,” more harmonica in the shorter roller “Worship Midnight,” the more open psychedelic drift solidifying around the call and response chorus of “AGN,” sludgy screams and shouts showing up in the second half of “Fucked Up,” the stoner-is-as-stoner-does-so-get-stoned mentality and All Them Witches-style blues melody at the start of “I’m Drowning,” a flourish of Asteroid-style vocals later as the song sweetly rounds out, or just some cowbell in “Shroom Bloody Shroom” to set the swing, post-“Snowblind” lyrics, returning harmonica, and slumber-lumber groove.
These varied aspects are tied together through a feeling of live performance and the abiding undercurrent drawn from earliest Black Sabbath. Those are the centers around which the trio rally and from out of which they expand their sound and cast their identity on this second full-length to come across as unassuming and unpretentious but forming an individualized approach within the frame of modern stoner-style idolatry. That is, I do believe they’re worshiping the riffs they’re following, and I even more sincerely believe they’re having a lot of fun doing so.
The clip accompanying “Shroom Bloody Shroom” is more of a visualizer, but it’s got plenty o’ mushrooms and you wouldn’t accuse it of not getting its point across. The full stream of River Lord is down near the links, via Bandcamp.
Please enjoy:
Void Commander, “Shroom Bloody Shroom” official video
Check out the new video for Void Commander – Shroom Bloody Shroom
Premiering Now on YouTube!
Void Commander, River Lord (2021)
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Tags: Karlskrona, Majestic Mountain Records, Olde Magick Records, Ozium Records, River Lord, Sweden, Void Commander, Void Commander River Lord
