ALBUM REVIEW: Void Moon Release New EP “Ars Moriendi”

Void Moon are a Swedish doom metal band formed in 2009 by bassist Peter Svensson. Having earned a reputation playing gigs all over Europe, as well as the success of their first 2 studio albums, the band are now releasing their new E.P. “Ars Moriendi” on Monster Nation Records. Released August 31st.

The E.P. opens with the titular “Ars Moriendi”. There’s a spooky, gloomy acoustic intro. It does a good job of setting the tone for the album and you get a real sense of doom and foreboding from the off. The drums begin to pick up and it eventually breaks to crisp, buzzsaw distortion. There’s soaring, echoing, elongated vocals. The sound isn’t hugely heavy in the traditional sense, but it’s menacing and sinister in its own way. Eventually it fades away to a mellow, clean guitar interlude before moving back to a big chorus with excellent lead and backing vocals. Really solid opener.

The second song, “Klunkom Welam Welamsson”. It’s a decent song but not overly noteworthy. It’s almost medieval sounding, with droning guitars and slick vocals.

“Pale Fire” was my favourite track on the E.P. There’s a groovy drum rhythm and a nice rhythmic riff with powerful vocals. It’s chuggy and menacing. I really liked the chorus in particular. It’s got chanted, almost early misfits style vocals that worked really well in the song. There’s also a shredded solo.

“Pilgrim at Sea” is a heavy, driving, stomping number. There’s phasey lead vocals and nice harmonies. It’s hectic at times and a little bit cluttered. But not necessarily in a bad way.

“The Last One Through The Door” wraps things up with a solemn, downbeat track. It starts off quietly, with atmospheric, melancholy guitar playing. There’s ghostly vocals layered on top, and it pretty much stays the same for it’s entirety, never really rising or falling. The vocals lift up a little towards the end, which gives the song a little bit of scale, but overall I think the song is a good closer. It’s fits the style and atmosphere of the album perfectly and I never felt like it needed to do any more.

“Ars Moriendi” is a very good E.P. although it felt a little bit short and I would’ve loved to hear more. Obviously it’s a decent length for an E.P., but I felt like it needed more time to fully flesh out it’s sound and story. I still really enjoyed it though, the vocals were really great, and I felt that the vocalist’s voice worked well with both the English and Swedish language lyrics. The overall sound is a little thin at times and I felt it could’ve been layered and filled out more, but on the whole it’s a thoroughly enjoyable E.P.

Track listing:

1. Ars Moriendi (featuring Leo Stivala on vocals)
2. Klunkom Welam Welamsson
3. Pale Fire
4. Pilgrim at Sea
5. The Last One through the Door

Review By Josh Farrell