ALBUM REVIEW: Rift – Forming The Void
FORMING THE VOID are a band from Louisiana who stick to the well-known characteristics for music from that region. They deal in heavy, groove-laden riffs; dirty low-end bass; and booming loud drums. However, over the course of their back catalogue including one self-titled EP and two full length albums Skyward and Relic the band have really started to spread their musical wings and head in to more progressive territory.
Their third full length album Rift looks to pick up where they left off with 2017’s Relic and expand their sound even further, with the amount of ideas and the penchant for writing ground shaking heavy riffs that FORMING THE VOID have, it goes without saying that they are going to welcome the challenge.
The album opens with the track Extinction Event and very quickly shows you what FORMING THE VOID are all about. The guitars from frontman James Marshall and axeman Shadi Omar Al-Khansa have a raw sound with the kind of distorted fuzz tone that is so familiar with the sound from the metal bands that come out of the Southern States of America. once this is coupled in with the tar-thick bass tones of Luke Baker it makes for the perfect head banging experience. The vocals are drenched in an echo effect that gives the booming, powerful delivery from Marshall an even greater presence. Sounding somewhat similar to the vocal stylings of MASTODON’s Troy Sanders. However, the highlight on this particular track has to be the guitar solo towards the end. All too often you find guitar solos in metal dragging on for what feels like an eternity and being an excuse for the guitarist to use every fret on the board for the sake of it. Not here. The solo is well written and includes the main ingredient that should entice all guitar players both young and old; feeling. A perfect introduction to this particular chapter of the band.
The following track We Sail On is a lot more direct. The main riff that provides the backbone for the entire song is incredibly simple, but there is a brilliance in that. The heavily distorted tone thuds along at a steady pace and entices the listener in to nodding along and stomping their feet without even being aware of that fact. The vocals are once again colossal. The effects successfully support the vocals, without being used a crutch. It has been proven time and time again that Marshall’s vocals are very powerful in their own right and don’t hide behind studio magic but are enhanced by them to adapt to the requirements of the song.
As the album continues, tracks such as Transient and Arrival use the other skill set that the band have acquired throughout their career; the creeping, expansive progressive sound that they have been growing since the early stages of their existence. The former has a wonderful clean, reverb-drenched guitar line that takes the stylings of post rock and lays it over the top of a solid drum beat. A distorted bass line aids the song in building towards the sludgy, heavy section that closes out the song and also provides a fantastic groove that gives the song some real character. The latter track is almost a nod to stoner metal bands such as YOB and SLEEP with its slow tempo sections and heavy, drawn out guitar riffs that flow into the more upbeat sections. They manage to pull this off without coming across as predictable and by-the-numbers as some band do when they get a little too attached to their distortion pedals. The effects on the guitar are well selected and continue to give the six string instruments the attention that they so desire on this album along with the show-stopping performance from Marshall once again on the microphone.
The album closer Shrine is a ten minute epic. The track opens with a clean, solemn sounding guitar part that quickly turns to a mammoth wall of distorted sound. The heavy, lumbering, down-tuned guitars will undoubtedly shake plenty of insides when they play this live, with the bass rumbling away in the background and the drums sounding as full and cleanly produced as ever. The vocal parts are approached in a different manor and take on a sound more akin to ALICE IN CHAINS rather than the big, booming BARONESS worshiping vocals that we have seen previously. The song itself shifts with ease between the clean, tranquil moments and the fully charged stoner metal sections. Such is its enrapturing nature it makes the fact that the song is over ten minutes long seem virtually insignificant.
This album is a triumph. Every box that a metal fan could want has been ticked throughout its seven fully loaded tracks. It’s heavy, but not for the sake of it. It’s melodic, without flirting with pop. The grooves are inescapable and the musicianship is absolutely flawless. If this is FORMING THE VOID searching for their sound then they should call of the search party because it’s mission accomplished with Rift.
Rating: 9/10
Rift is set for release on August 17th via Kozmik Artifactz.
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