Released by the band in 2015, Forming the Void‘s debut full-length, Skyward (review here), was warmly greeted on its arrival. It was kind of the dawn of the Bandcamp era, such as it is, and the Lafayette, Louisiana-based four-piece of guitarist/vocalist James Marshall, guitarist Shadi Omar Al Khansa, bassist Luke Baker and drummer Jordan Boyd showed up with just the right kind of rolling grooves to start mouths wording.

There are only five songs — “Skyward” (6:12), “Three Eyed Gazelle” (7:39), “Saber” (7:58), “Return Again” (6:18) and “Sleepwalker” (6:32) — and the album takes place over a readily-digested 34 minutes, beginning with the atmospheric intro provided by the first two minutes of “Skyward” before its central riff sweeps into the record’s first verse. I’ll admit it’s been a while since I last visited, but the title-track is an insistent nod there and shifts at 2:40 into a section of chug to remind that Forming the Void‘s prog-metal elements were part of what helped them stand out from the cadre of other outfits taking shape at the time, as well as the atmospheric lead put over that chug.

Even with “Skyward” dropping the first hints of the deeper-diving into Middle Eastern scales and melodies that would flourish through the band’s three subsequent LPs to-date, 2017’s Relic (review here), 2018’s Rift (review here) and 2020’s Reverie (review here), Ripple Music being the perfect label to issue the latter not the least for Forming the Void‘s emergent ‘r’ theme in record titles. In the car, “Skyward” is raw and some of the ambience is given up to the bare crunch of the riff, but on headphones the deeper reaches come through clearer. ‘Listen without distraction,’ the saying goes.

And no question, Skyward is a case-in-point for creative evolution. Forming the Void‘s sound has grown bigger, more progressive, and boldly heavier throughout their time, and as the foundation of their development as a group — Thomas Colley would replace Jordan Boyd on drums — in the vocals of Marshall, in the guitar of Al Khansa, and in the sheer aural largesse amassed in records two, three and four, it feels a little bit like the spark before the Big Bang. In part just for the relative dryness of the vocals. And if they had never done anything else, it would still be a killer record, but I don’t think I’m giving away state secrets when I say they’d soon enough blow themselves out of the water in terms of complexity, clarity of vision and ongoing refinement.

So again, evolution. Things starting as one thing and becoming something else over time. A single cell as life form. Skyward is nowhere near that basic, and the brooding, lurching, churning groove of “Three-Eyed Gazelle” (video here) expands the ambience of the title-track with an early roller verse — a Forming the Void specialty, stylistically-speaking — and soon breaks to an ambient section anchored by Baker‘s bass and again peppered with leads before surging back to pay off the tension built. They nod back into the verse, hints of doom in the solo as they approach the seven-minute mark, and course through with a stateliness that the more uptempo rock almost-boogie of the intro to “Saber” intentionally contradicts.

Harmonies in the verse — is it Marshall and Al Khansa, or maybe Marshall in layers? — mark “Saber” as a highlight, along with the ’90s-style groove that takes hold, not quite grunge, but pre-turn of the century at heart. “Saber” also doubles as a construction project for the big ol’ wall of noise and crash at its finish, the apex riff and shouted vocals overtop met by a rising movement on guitar that could be higher in the mix for extra adrenaline push. Residual noise finishes and “Return Again” answers by pairing soothing quiet sections with contrasting comedowns — heavy, quiet, heavy, quiet, heavy, if you’re curious — bordering on aggressive in its heavier parts, and is psychedelic in its mellower stretches, if still rhythmically tense.

“Sleepwalker” caps and is effective in finding a middle ground. More melodically-centered in its verse than, say, “Three Eyed Gazelle,” the gradual build and harder kick-in at 3:05 are confidently executed in a way that doesn’t want to catch the listener off guard so much as bring them along. Even when they’re about to get loud, you can almost hear them rearing back to do so, as if just checking to make sure everybody is on board. Please keep your hands and feet and phones and whatevers in the car at all times.

By the time it’s finished, “Sleepwalker” has portrayed the multi-tiered potential of the band and given hints at how they might grow. The fact that listeners now know the answers to the questions inherently raised by that makes the culmination of Skyward no less satisfying, especially since so much of Forming the Void‘s evolution as a group happened on tour.

As you can see above, three years is the longest break the band — who are still active and booked to appear at Ripplefest Texas this month — have had between albums, and one assumes that the plague upheaval surrounding the time of Reverie‘s release is at least partially to blame for that. I don’t know anybody’s life or work situation or anything like that, but if shit got complicated during covid for Forming the Void, they’d hardly be the only ones for whom that’s the case.

And for what it’s worth — plenty — they’ve dropped hints of new stuff coming soon, so maybe next year we’ll get there. Until then (or not), any excuse to revisit is welcome, both to remember this initial display of their songwriting and to appreciate it and the forward-thinking style they’ve made their own.

As always, I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading and have a great weekend.

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I have too much going on to talk about it. This week was insane. We got a puppy. Her name is Tilly. Here’s the picture. The Patient Mrs. started a new semester. The Pecan starts kindergarten on Tuesday. I was watching three kids on Wednesday (5, 7, 10) and it was nuts. I spent so much time writing on my phone, completely overwhelmed, chasing. Trying to squeeze in as much as I could. That would be what I signed up for, it seems.

I talked about it a little bit earlier this week — and yes, that link is there because I don’t expect you to have read it or remember — but we drove out to Pennsylvania to get the dog, way out. The place was far enough that it made sense somehow to stop through Hersheypark on our way to the 2PM meeting with the breeder, who was a Mennonite farmer with an expansive operation — fields, cattle, chickens, etc. — and thankfully not a puppy mill. The place was clean and obviously not just because someone was showing up that day, and the litter was kept together and she got 10 full weeks with her bothers and sisters and seems to have benefited from that. Eight, which is the standard, is not enough. Also, she’s clearly been handled, including by kids, who we met, can fetch, sometimes comes when she’s called, and she responds well to positive reinforcement, so that’s been a plus.

The pressure was on me. It wasn’t spoken so much, but The Patient Mrs. very clearly took the ‘I got the last dog and you made us get rid of it so this is your show, champ’ position, and fairly so. I’m glad Omi likes living at my mother’s house. I hope our experience with this puppy continues on the track of this past week.

We took the one from the selection of five who hung back and who looked confused in the videos I was sent. So far she’s been very good. She has peed in the house once. I caught her in time on a pee this morning and on a poop the other evening, whenever it was, so I’m not calling her housebroken at all — she was born in June 12; we have a ways to go on all fronts, including teaching her the difference between dog toys and just about everything else when it comes to chewing — but we’re off to an encouraging start. I like carrying her in the crook of my arm and reveling in the dopamine drip.

But it’s time now to feed The Pecan her breakfast, so hey, have a great and safe weekend. Have fun, watch your head, see you at the kindergarten ice cream social at 1PM! Don’t be late or you won’t get into college!

FRM.

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I thought yesterday went pretty well, by which I mean I didn’t receive any complaints that somebody’s name was spelled wrong (yet), so I feel alright going into the second batch of releases for the Quarterly Review. Today mixes it up a bit, which is something I always enjoy doing with these, and while I’ll take pains to emphasize that the list of releases today, as with every day, isn’t in order, there was no way I wasn’t going to start with the first record below. Some albums just demand top placement.

Quarterly Review #11-20:

Eight Bells, Landless

However you define the word “heavy” as it relates to music, Eight Bells are it. The Portland, Oregon, trio release their second album and first for Battleground Records in the form of the five-track Landless, and from the opening sprawl and lumber of “Hating” through the crawling-plus-blasting chaos of “Touch Me,” a strong progressive current underscores the material – most notably the 13-minute title-track, but really the rest as well, which flows gracefully even in its harshest moments, the blackened rush in the second half of “Landless,” for example, which follows psychedelic drones and harmonies just minutes before, or the similar thrust of centerpiece “Hold My Breath,” which works in tighter quarters but manages to span genres all the same. “The Mortal’s Suite” provides some respite in airy guitar and airier vocals, giving new drummer Rae Amitay a break while showcasing the harmonies of guitarist Melynda Jackson (ex-SubArachnoid Space) and bassist Haley Westeiner. As open atmospherically as the band is in their creative scope, there just isn’t a level on which Landless isn’t superb.

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Battleground Records

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Öken, Öken

Swedish four-piece Öken do themselves huge favors by refusing to be easily categorized on their 2015 self-titled Ozium Records debut full-length, which runs an immersive 62 minutes and blends doom, classic heavy/desert rock and forest psych with subtle grace throughout its eight tracks, each of which is fleshed out in an overarching naturalist atmosphere. “Väktaren” dives headfirst into boogie only after initial minimalist teasing, and “Crimson Moon” bursts to life after a hypnotic psychedelic opening to find its crux in later runs of dueling guitars. The two closing cuts, “Under Vår Sol” and “Cuauhtémoc” are an album unto themselves, the former nodding initially at Sungrazer’s serene vibes before pushing into even more open psychedelic territory, and the latter proffering riffy largesse en route to a striking classic prog finish. That Öken make these elements work side-by-side and transition from one to the other fluidly is emblematic of the confidence at work in the band, and they carry their scope with organic-sounding ease.

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Ozium Records

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Brimstone Coven, Black Magic

West Virginian roots doomers Brimstone Coven made their debut on Metal Blade in 2015 with a self-titled EP compilation (track stream here), and Black Magic is their first full-length. Its 10 tracks/54 minutes take cues varyingly from classic heavy rock, doom and the less majestic side of the NWOBHM, but Brimstone Coven’s approach is marked out by the extensive use of vocal harmonies on cuts like the prog-tinged “Beyond the Astral,” the later moments of raw-roller “Upon the Mountain” and “The Plague.” Black Magic’s production is barebones enough that this singing – credited solely to “Big John” Williams, while Corey Roth handles guitar, Andrew D’Cagna bass and Justin Wood drums – doesn’t really soar so much as nestle in and enhance the begging-for-vinyl analog-worship of the instruments surrounding, a proliferation of cultish themes distinguishing Brimstone Coven even as a song like “The Seers” finds them inheriting a trad-doom soulfulness from The Gates of Slumber.

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Metal Blade Records

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Pants Exploder, Pants Exploder

Between its vicious aggression, inhumane chug and have-fun-enduring-this stomp, the self-titled, self-released debut LP from Pants Exploder could just as easily be definitive New York noise, but the low-end heft of their assault right from opener “It’s Ok, I’m Wiccan.” (punctuation included in title) has an element of early-Mastodonic lumber, and that’s a thread that continues throughout “End of the World” and “You Don’t Strike Me as a Reader,” which offsets its slab-of-concrete-on-your-chest push with moments of respite, but remains driving in its intensity. As in, driving your head into the ground. Also the ground is pavement. It’s fucking heavy, is the point. To wit, the mega-plod of “Um, I Curated an Art Show in College, So…” and thrust of “God Has a Plan for Me.” Capping with the seven-minute “You Smug Bastard,” Pants Exploder pays off the tension they build in a noise-wash fury that is as impressive as it is scathing.

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Pants Exploder on Bandcamp

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Shallows, The Moon Rises

The rather ominous The Moon Rises EP is the first non-demo offering from Asheville, North Carolina, four-piece Shallows, who blend heavy psychedelic and grunge influences across its five tracks, opener “Shimmering” and closer “Distance” mirroring each other’s spacious push while between, “Zero,” “A Mile Beneath” and the Earth-influenced “The Barn Burning” enact gorgeous vocal harmonies between Cameron Zarrabzadeh and HannahLynn Cruey atop atmospheric heavy rock, hitting into Alice in Chains-meets-Kylesa territory on the centerpiece, “A Mile Beneath,” which is a fair bit of ground to cover. That cut is the high point in showcasing Shallows’ potential, but the Western take with “The Barn Burning” and meandering post-rock echoes and organ of “Distance” only add to the breadth of this impressive, too-short collection. With a focus consistently kept on ambience throughout, The Moon Rises flows like a full-length album, and so bodes that much better for what Shallows will be able to accomplish when they get there. I’ll look forward to it.

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Shallows on Bandcamp

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Monumentum, The Killer is Me

Even before they get to the all the aggro fuzz riffing, there’s a distinct threat of violence in Monumentum’s The Killer is Me. Its four songs, “Noose,” “Whore,” “Fiend and Foe” and “Killer Me,” each seem to find the Norwegian band doling out noise-influenced heavy rock, driven by some underlying dissatisfaction on this, their first EP. Released on vinyl through Blues for the Red Sun Records, it offsets being so outwardly pissed off through groove, the starts and stops of “Killer Me” and the rolling seven minutes of opener and longest track “Noose” (immediate points) both marked out for both their tonal weight and the force with which Monumentum push their material forward – not speedy, though “Whore” is by no means slow, but dense and emitting a residual tension all the same. Somewhat unipolar in its mood, The Killer is Me still manages to give an initial impression of what Monumentum are about sound-wise, and provides them with a solid start to work from.

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Blues for the Red Sun Records

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Famyne, Famyne

While the UK isn’t at all short on doom or sludge at this point, Canterbury five-piece Famyne distinguish themselves on their self-titled first EP with a traditional take and the at-times theatric harmonies of vocalist Tom Vane. Along with guitarists Alex Tolson and Alex Williams, bassist Chris Travers and drummer Jake Cook, Vane nods at Alice in Chains on lumbering opener “Enter the Sloth” without going full-on “hey whoa momma yeah” and provides a considerable frontman presence, particularly for a debut recording. Comprising three songs with the speedier bonus track “Long Lost Winter” as an add-on download with the CD version, Famyne’s Famyne EP finds its crux in the nod and push of the 10-minute “The Forgotten,” which takes a cue atmospherically from The Wounded Kings but finds its own, less-cultish niche in bringing new energy to classic doom and setting in motion a progression that already puts an individual stamp on established tenets.

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Famyne on Bandcamp

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Ethereal Riffian, Youniversal Voice

There’s patient, and then there’s Ethereal Riffian, whose riffy ritualizing and exploration nonetheless brims with some intangible energetic sensibility on their new live outing, Youniversal Voice. Heavy psychedelic wash, thick riffs, theatric vocals and guitar effects, stoner roll and the occasional fit of shredding, one might hear any of it at a given point in over-12-minute cuts like “Wakan Tanka” and “Anatman,” the latter which arrives as the penultimate of the eight-song/56-minute set. The clarity, for being a live album, is remarkable, and Ethereal Riffian add to the experience with a CD version that includes a candle, elaborate packaging and artwork, and tea, so the multi-sensory impression is obviously important, and where many live outings are throwaways or a means of bowing to contractual obligation, Youniversal Voice adds to Ethereal Riffian’s studio work a substantial ambassasorial feel, conveying an onstage vibe with a fullness of sound and clarity of mind not often heard.

Ethereal Riffian on Thee Facebooks

Ethereal Riffian on Bandcamp

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Wet Cactus, Wet Cactus

Desert rock trio Wet Cactus don’t make any bones about where they’re getting their influence from on their late-2015 self-titled second EP. By the time they get around to the penultimate “The Road” on the five-track/24-minute outing, they’ve dug themselves in deep into the worship of crunchy Kyuss-style riffing, and you can throw in looks for Unida, Queens of the Stone Age, Slo Burn and whoever else of that milieu, but Kyuss is at the root of it all anyway. Less grand in their production than UK outfit Steak, who operated in similar territory on their 2014 debut LP, Slab City, Wet Cactus keep it natural in the tradition of their forebears, and while there’s room for them to grow into a more individual approach, the hazy fuckall in closer “World’s Law” has a stoner charm before and after it kicks into a punkish push to close out. Cool vibe either way, and the tone is dead on. If these cats go jammier, watch out.

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Odio Sonoro

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Forming the Void, Skyward

I won’t say a bad word about the artwork of David Paul Seymour in the context of this review or any other, but ultimately, Louisiana doomers Forming the Void are coming from someplace much more in line with progressive metal than the three-eyed goat and robed figures on the cover of their second album, Skyward, might represent. Again, that’s not a knock on Seymour, or for that matter, the band, just that the look of the record is deceptive, dogwhistling stonerisms even as moody cuts like the opening title-track and “Three Eyed Gazelle” – while thoroughly doomed in their vibe – prove more lucidly constructed. That holds true through the chugging centerpiece “Saber” as well, marked out by vocal harmonizing, and “Return Again,” which rolls through atmospheric metal and an ambient interlude to enact the record’s most memorable payoff and set up the linear course of the more patient closer “Sleepwalker.” Cohesive in mood and clearly plotted, Skyward is ultimately darker and more driven than it might at first appear.

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Forming the Void on Bandcamp

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Louisiana atmospheric metallers Forming the Void issued their debut album, Skyward, last fall. The brooding, lurching Lafayette four-piece have a new video for the track “Three Eyed Gazelle” from the outing, and it captures the kind of understated intensity that lies beneath the outwardly (mostly) calm waters of the song’s surroundings, Forming the Void taking cues from progressive metal as much as if not more than doom, resulting in a persistent sense of tightness to their rhythms and melodies and a style more forward thinking than one usually finds on an album the cover for which features a goat-inclusive ritual of some sort or other. Not to generalize, but if you’re reading this, you know what I’m talking about.

There’s plenty of ritual in the video itself, admittedly. The part of the gazelle? Why it’s played by a pretty lady in antlers, of course. She bellydances in front of a bonfire at night as the footage is sped up and slowed down to match the band’s rhythm, her third eye prevalent in her forehead and just a bit on the other side of creepy. The song’s blend of sludge and teeth-clenched metal calls to mind the likes of a less abrasive Beastwars from New Zealand or maybe Cultura Tres from Venezuela, so Forming the Void are nothing if not worldly. Might be a little clean for some listeners, in accordance with that whole “prog” thing, but has a darker vibe as well to go with all that fire and nighttime and those robes that show up later on.

The album — I’ve also seen it called an EP, so you know, don’t go quoting me or anything — is streaming now on Bandcamp, where the CD’s also available on the cheap. Links and other info after the video below. Enjoy:

Forming the Void, “Three Eyed Gazelle” official video

FORMING THE VOID – “Three Eyed Gazelle” from the album “Skyward”

Directed by David Rabalais from Randy Diddly studios
randydiddly.com

FORMING THE VOID is a rock band based out of Lafayette, Louisiana. The band has been performing regularly since October of 2013 and released their second album, “SKYWARD” in August 2015. Their unique blend of atmospheric and stoner rock with a metal influence places a heavy emphasis on textures and layers.

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Forming the Void on Bandcamp

Forming the Void on Twitter