Review by Alex on March 25, 2020.

Surely the United States of America has seen many a metal band but none quite the likes of Black Vice; oddly emerging from Austin, Texas where it'd be by 100% default you encounter a stoner/doom/rock band before finding any other type of metal existing in the region.

Adding to the peculiar charm of Black Vice's second album (pardon my manners for not mentioning earlier) The Alchemist's Vision, is the artwork that does not echo that of black metal, instead comes as an apparition of death metal and a rather stellar piece at that. But enough talk of assumed and expected formalities, does the agenda of Black Vice appeal to the ears and preferences of any listener?; speaking for myself, given the fact of the matter a review has even been written denotes the quality of the music in question.

The Alchemist's Vision is one that detonates without warning, a sudden explosion of both death and early to mid-90s black metal. Had one no knowledge of the band's location, the assumption and classification as a Belgian or German black metal output would not have been unreasonable or inaccurate. This record's identity finds itself humbly situated within the geographic black metal regions of Europe in the mid-90s with a somewhat cavernous presence emitted of course.

Anointed by a cold, drizzling, fast to mid-paced motility, The Alchemist's Vision surrounds the listener with an infinite stretch the moment power-chords can be heard from 'Ontogenesis'. Priming for a torrent of riffs, the album puts to work mid-ranged doom metal chord-progression before sliding down a fountain and submerging the listener in a lake of guitar ecstasy. 'Ontogenesis' sets the tone and the rest follows with 'Emergence' continuing the hypnotic instrumental sway, reaching its juicy peak as tremolo picking expands into a melancholic-melodic-massage.

Onward to 'Vision', 'Attainment' and 'Salvation', the riffing takes on an even stronger structure adding a rhythmic depth to The Alchemist's Vision. You'd feel the urge to move your hands in an elegant fashion as though conducting an orchestra once struck by the guitar caress on any given song.

The vocals and drumming provide the meat of the record whilst sharing an intimacy with the guitaring, and as a combinative force, flows with a pacing reminiscent of early Scandinavian black metal. Like a titan, 'Salvation' does some powerlifting that transcends the entire feel of the album to something near tangible through a candescent groove illuminating the music; thus, extended by the ambient intervals on 'Creation' and 'Erasure'. This sensory stronghold on The Alchemist's Vision reflects and gives testimony to the record's title as an exteroception and a piece magnified. An album deserving to be heard by many in the black metal underground.

Rating: 8.4 out of 10

Review by Alex on January 16, 2020.

I feel Void Rot was given a cold shoulder, unfairly overlooked because of a saturated music scene. Had they been given the same coverage the likes of Spectral Voice or Krypts or even some meaningful spotlight, their debut EP, Consumed by Oblivion would have been the words on the tongues of many at the time of its release. I happened to stumble across them on The Metal Archives just by the thin chance of spotting the band name in the updates section and like all inquisitive metal adventurers I clicked. It'd be fair to say Void Rot don't have as many releases as Krypts nor Spectral Voice plus they arrived rather late to the scene, which could also be attributed to why there had not been much mention of the band. In addition, at the time of the EP's release and even beforehand, many had already grown accustomed to or even weary of the whole death/doom resurgence.

Usually I'm all for keeping things at a limit in favor of quality preservation as far as what enters my musical vault thus bringing me to the point of where and why Void Rot should share space within the same room more notable acts. Not to be mistaken, this is by no means a copycat band bent on riding the tidal success of this new wave of death/doom metal, in fact though carrying some elements of recognized bands of the genre in addition to those of Abstracter or even Cruciamentum, their methodology is more aching to that of a melodic one. Their musical palette is conservative from some perspectives; however, if you listen beneath the overshadowing hm2 pedal distortion you would begin to notice the lengths at which Void Rot goes to stitch together a sound and feeling that is somewhat independent and could manage well on its own.

'Ancient Seed' shows us how fluid they can write a song of trance-like effect whilst title track, 'Consumed by Oblivion' demonstrates the bands capability to drag the listener in and out of that state of mind with sudden bursts of guitar patterns adjacent yet still intrinsic to the general fabric and texture of Void Rot's blueprint. The d-beat drumming and vocal strength of the Ep empowers the daze these 3 sessions evoke, therefore causing the music to truly shine as a jewel of cohesion. A split with Atavisma is scheduled to be put-out sometime in February of 2020 through Everlasting Spew Records, hence it should be interesting to see how it is received and how Void Rot has progressed as a band since this EP. Let’s hope their effort is not 'Consumed by Oblivion' once again.

Rating: 7.8 out of 10