The chalice is pressed to my lips and I drink deeply of the cold, bitter draught within. Before I have lifted my hooded head from the silver cup the flight of my mind’s eye has begun. The dust filled air, the stone beneath my knees, the shadows between the ancient pillars – in a breath they are gone. I soar above vast mountains, then fall towards their jagged, purple peaks as rain, my awareness split a thousand times in the tiny droplets. I ride at the head of a stampede of wild horses, carried through a curtain of vines that bloody me with hidden thorns. I watch the betrayals and carrion sins of my past lives and fall impaled upon the Minotaur’s horns. I sail the waves between the stars and read the truth of our base and decadent nature in their lidless, soul stripping gaze.
Chile’s Gabriel Hugo, known for his work under the band name Lascar now presents a new exploration of the infinite darkness. Voidmilker is a musical entity that dwells in the eye of the vortex of black metal; surrounded by the swirling currents of harsh dissonance, overwhelming cavernous atmosphere, hypnotic harmony and beguiling melody it howls into the raging storm. Voidmilker is sonically blacker and fiercer than his work with Lascar, yet within its challenging onslaught of sound Gabriel Hugo strives to cultivate an aesthetic of contemplation, reflection and inner journeying. Debut album, Labyrinthical – so aptly named – explores the murky, bewildering, deep places of black metal, uncovering ancient truths and pathways of mystery, seeking wisdom in its cascading riffs and wild, hammering drums. There is formidable power in songs like ‘Abomination of Desolation’, a determined fortitude to the unwavering steps of ‘Cosmic Summon’, a dark interweaving of contrasts in ‘Birth Of Trepidation’ as frantic desperation, composed strength, melodious progression and jarring violence meld into a glorious climax. The external aspect of Labyrinthical is grim and forbidding and its inner darkness harsher still, but between the layers of cacophonous terror lie secrets of untold value and black chambers of staggering realisation.
Voidmilker’s challenge will be carried out into the world by Tragedy Productions on the seventh day of the seventh month. It will be adorned in the artwork of Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux; the French artist’s dreamlike piece, La Communion, created in around 1860. The picture’s soft, indefinite image prompts speculation, questions and uncertainty making it the perfect visual accompaniment to the simmering obscurity of Gabriel Hugo’s latest creation. Step across the threshold of Labyrinthical, walk its multitudinous passages and stare into its fecund darkness until its mysteries unfold.
Line-up:
Gabriel Hugo – All music and vocals
Genre: Black Metal
For fans of: Svartidauði | VI | Aosoth | Ante-Inferno
Further Information:
www.facebook.com/voidmilker
www.facebook.com/tragedyproductions
https://tragedyproductions.bandcamp.com
