Trancelike Void - Destroying Something Beautiful

Dual Review:




















Genre: Black Metal
Name: Trancelike Void
Album: Destroying Something Beautiful (2008)and Silhouettes of Misery (2010).
Deep Thought II

Thirteen posts and already I'm resorting to the same artists. Ah well.

Anyhoo, you may remember that last time I reviewed these Belgians, all the way back in April, I reviewed an EP of theirs, and, whilst it was good, it wasn't particularly great: 22 minutes and about 6 riffs. However, various sources informed me that I had picked a particularly unusal output for the duo, and I wasn't showing them in their true glory, so I promised a review of something else of theirs shortly.

And, as always, I forgot.


However, I went through my posts the other day to see what I'd promised you, and, sure enough there it was. A quick trip to the internet, and I have two reviews for you: the one I owed, plus interest.

Destroying Something Beautiful is Black Metal, but not in the syle of Abigail Williams. This is more abstract, more like Burzum or Lupus Nocturnus (both coming soon - well, soon-ish. Maybe a month). It's a mix of the heavy, pounding, slow, repetitious chords, distorted and layered on top of simple drums and new-age-esque, harmonious, abstract interludes, much shorter than their grittier partners. Also, for once, tracks labelled as interludes actually act as interludes, rather than just being a short sound clip they liked but couldn't actually fit anywhere else (I'm looking at you, Enter Shikari).

It is certainly more diverting than The Stone Pond, and keeps the attention far more easily. While it is perhaps slightly simpler - okay, significantly simpler in composition than that EP, which used more than three strings, I prefer it. This is mostly because it's just my thing - (mostly) instrumental, heavy, fairly depressing - and I can certainly see that people might not agree with me. However, this album has an advantage over its predecessor because it's possible to hear it without the volume raised to the maximum possible level.

Despite the interludes, which certainly create interesting diversions - and, in fact, even including them - this album remains probably far too simple for most people. The chords follow mostly the same patterns, with only the occasional diversion, the drums are simple and certainly aren't "driving", and the whole thing seems almost willing to fade into the background. Even the interludes only get your attention because they're not the same sequence on repeat. However, as I've said, this is what I like. It's my cup of tea (Earl Grey, no milk, no sugar, a little bit of lemon). I enjoyed it, especially the exceptionally atmospheric epilogue, which is closer to a none-acoustic Where The Trees Can Make It Rain


Silhouettes Of Misery, however, is much closer to that EP than Destroying Something Beautiful. For starters, it's acoustic, and therefore doesn't have those pulsing chords of Destroying Something Beautiful. It's based a lot more on simple, repeated riffs than heavy and distorted chords, although there are acoustic equivalents. But there is nothing to say on this album, really. I have just sat through the three-quarters of an hour it took me to play it through, and found nothing worth commenting on that makes it any different from Where The Trees Can Make It Rain. The only thing I can think of - and I'm really grasping at straws here - is that the drums appear more, but that's mostly because it's longer. There's nothing wrong with it, I didn't actively dislike it, but it just didn't do anything to grab my attention. It just made me sit and think (in this case, about html - how do I get one link to open two tabs?), and I that's probably the point. It certainly was a lot more effective in this regard than Destroying Something Beautiful, and I'm sure a lot of people like it. However, I'd only have it on as white noise, or as something peaceful if I were a hippy and wanted to meditate.

Overall, Trancelike Void are a band that, if not obsessively introspective themselves, certainly encourage their listeners to be. They do compose music that holds the attention like a sieve holds water, but when you return from the ether of your thoughts, you emerge into a calm and controlled auditory landscape, sterilised and peaceful, and fairly pleasant. That is what it's about, I suppose, and I'm sure many people find this helpful. However, I'm capable of thinking deeply without musical supplements, so certainly Silhouettes Of Misery isn't for me.

Summary: Calm thought-provoking music, but not something you can rock out to.
Rating: 7/10 and 6/10

Track listing:
Destroying Something Beautiful
1. Prelude: Descent
2. Part I: Everything Falls
3. Interlude I: Daydream
4. Part II: Fragile Conciousness
5. Interlude II: Nightmare
6. Part III: Total Desolation
7. Epilogue: Escape

Silhouettes Of Misery
1. Paranoid Melancholy
2. One Bridge Drowned
3. Blood
4. An Essence Of Tragedy

Myspace

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Trancelike Void - Where The Trees Can Make It Rain

Genre: Doom

Name: Trancelike Void

Album: Where The Trees Can Make It Rain (2010)

If this EP were a font, it would be Minima Sans Serif

Now, first, let me make one thing clear: I thought that trees did have some affect on precipitation. I still believe that they do, in some weird scientific way, but having been informed by the in-house fashion designer that they don't, I shall admit that I am currently losing this battle.

Onto the music. It is, to say the absolute minimum, minimalist. The bass and vocals have been scrapped, the drum kit has been coated in several layers of cotton wool and there are long periods of silence. However, it is not necessarily bad.

The opening track on this twenty-two-and-a-half minute acoustic journey has a slow, melancholy intro, with pauses, which seems repetitive, but after only one-and-a-quarter minutes you get a new theme. That's right, we've got two now! There are even drums for a while. I know, shocking, right? We then return to the original riff, which isn't actually too dissimilar from the second - it's just slower and missing one note. We then get the second riff again, in another "faster" (speed is relative) section. It is only towards the end of the tenth minute that we are shown a new idea, but we soon return to the second lick once more.

The second, and final track is similar: Within an instant you see where the guitar is going, and it simply repeats itself moving up or down an interval each time. We get a hint at a change after one-and-a-half minutes, but only for an instant, and we get three minutes of the same repeated riff. We get a new idea at 3:45, but after that, I'll admit, my attention wavered a little, and I have no further comments to make. It is just more in the same vein.

Now, don't get me wrong: I did enjoy this. The music is pleasant, if not interesting: it doesn't exactly grab you, and it certainly isn't a "blink and you'll miss it affair". There are no moments that you anticipate for the entire song: no excellent fills, no lyrical twists (no lyrics at all) and no expert guitar playing that leaves you weak at the knees. It's simplistic: there aren't even any chords underneath the melody. It is the music I would use to fall asleep (in the nicest way possible), or perhaps listen to if I needed to think deeply about something.

Having written this review, I did a little research. The Belgian duo that is Trancelike Void have supposedly done four other releases, and this is "an incredible risk for TLV. It's entirely acoustic and considerably less dark in both tone and aesthetic than its predecessors" (Courtesy of Cory from emotionallyvoided.blogspot). It appears that this is unusual for this band, and they perhaps are more prone to heavier music. I shall certainly make sure my opinions are informed, and you can anticipate a review of one of their full length releases in time.

Rating: 6/10
Summary: Peaceful, pleasant but perhaps a trifle plain.

Track Listing:
1. The Stone Pond
2. Ghost Mountain

Myspace (No songs from this EP)
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