When To the Great Monolith 2.5 released in August as a transitional EP release and mentioned it would bridge the gap between the previous full length and a new one, I thought we’d be waiting a little while before the new album emerged. But just over a month later Death. Void. Terror. put out that full length, and To the Great Monolith III: Rifts really is as transformative as they were hinting at. Where the first two releases in the To the Great Monolith series emphasized noise, weight, and utter blackness, the third one spends just as much time exploring more ethereal and mysterious tones that also have a bit of a hallucinatory feel. It takes the more experimental and different elements from the EP and blows them wide open, creating material that takes the black and doom framework and pushes far beyond its usual boundaries.
I mentioned that the two metal centric tracks on To the Great Monolith 2.5 reminded me of Urfaust in the way the melodies seemed to stretch towards the stars and have this otherworldly tone. That has been enhanced even further on this new effort, and there are moments that remind me of both Empty Space Meditation and The Constellatory Practice. Some of this is due to the production values, which emphasize a good deal of space between each element and as a result the way each drumbeat seems to hover over the recording, as if operating in its own time and space, gives off a similar effect to those Urfaust albums. But Death. Void. Terror. has taken this foundation and transformed it into something all their own, as while the writing often emphasizes a more methodical doom cadence and some dips into more rock territory this time around the elements they layer over it makes for something far more unique. Opener “I. (-- -- - -- -) Gözdyrey” has big, crashing drums that give off more of that doom tone but the way the melodies and other instrumentation expand over it create this haunting and entrancing soundscape. I hear hints of Middle Eastern influenced elements that tie back to some of the Jünger Tumilon’s other projects, and the song has this interesting way of shifting from bleaker, nightmarish tones into brighter ones that soar over the recording. “II. (- -- - --) Ids Elrekis Frakhetir” offers some more abstract and fluid writing initially that lets sparser instrumentation be driven forward by a wide range of vocal cadences, but it later transforms into a moodier groove that comes across like a jazzier take on Arkhaaik’s style from last year. Even when things settle back into sections that are a bit more traditional on the black metal and doom side of things there are unexpected flourishes like horns or shrill tonality that seems like its going to drag you into the vastness of the void. Closer “V. (-- ---) Daphnyr” offers up some of the ambient touches from the EP, and while it does whip things up into a much fuller and rhythmic approach by the end the textures come through somewhere between dark ambient and classical music. It’s the type of album that is likely to conjure up a wide range of imagery and have an almost hallucinatory effect under the right conditions, as the slower approach and shimmering textures have an entrancing effect but there are darker details that retain a bit of that dread and tension from the group’s earlier works.
One element I’ve noted in my reviews of different Jünger Tumilon related bands over the years is how their vocals have really become more varied and unique over the years. On a lot of the earlier works from each project the emphasis was often on lower screams and growls that fell in line with what you would expect from death, black, and doom, but over time that has shifted. Death. Void. Terror. has taken things a step further on To the Great Monolith III: Rifts, and there’s so much happening on the vocal front that it might take a few times through to really get a feel for all the details. This isn’t immediately apparent, as “I. (-- -- - -- -) Gözdyrey” orients itself towards room filling growls with some higher shrieks initially, but as the song progresses you get echoed singing/chanting off in the distance, slightly cleaner yelling, and a little before the halfway point things shift towards singing and chanting. The song ultimately ends with echoed chanting that gives off a very ominous tone, and the transition into “II. (- -- - --) Ids Elrekis Frakhetir” is seamless. Here you get some more throat singing type performances, along with some much higher pitched singing that almost sound like the ramblings of an insane person. Every time you think you’ve heard every range the clean and harsh vocals can reach the band offers something different, and the maniacal screams that lead into whistling on “IV. ( - - --) Flukhetor” are a highlight for me.
Prior to this year’s releases, Death. Void. Terror. was the Jünger Tumilon related band I had gone back to the least as the dense black/doom didn’t quite click with me as much as the other projects. But the shift towards a sound that still has moments of crushing weight and nightmarish qualities but that also draws you in with a more hypnotic tone and more atmospherically oriented sound really makes a difference. There is still plenty of black metal and doom to the writing, and at times the methodical rhythms and shimmering atmospherics remind me of Urfaust, but there are so many additional nuances and unexpected flourishes that give Death. Void. Terror. an identity of their own. This is one of those albums that is a wild ride from beginning to end, and when discussing metal artists that have pushed beyond the usual confines this band is definitely in the conversation. To the Great Monolith III: Rifts is available from Sentient Ruin Laboratories.
-Review by Chris Dahlberg