Yawning Void – Streams Within
Band: Yawning Void
Titled: Streams Within
Label: Independent
Release 31 January 2019
Country: Finland
Format reviewed: FLAC
I got to YAWNING VOID by absolute chance, but what a shot hitting the bull’s eye. There had been three main reasons that it was mandatory to give them a listen. First of all I’m in a search for more “void”-named bands. However the other two reasons are much more important and fits perfectly one to another as a punch fits to a face. So – the band is from Finland, and they are playing doom/death/black. What a better match!
Hailing from Turku, Finland, YAWNING VOID has been an active band since 2016 and “Streams Within” is their debut album. I also found out that the band members all have a history in the deep Finnish underground, playing in many other bands. The most important is YAWNING VOID now, and I’m really glad that I discovered “Streams Within”. The album consists of five tracks, and with a total running time of almost 49 minutes. The music is slow, morbid, raw, night. The vocals represent both lower black metal shrieks and deep death metal growls. On top, the bass lines are clearly represented in the mix. What really contributes to the overall album mood are the atmospheric keyboards, which create almost unreal snowy, freezing northern (lights) mood. Just only listen to the opener “Hearts Like Abyss” and “Ouroborean” – consisting of all the above mentioned parts, and both “carried above black holes of existence”. Grabbing you to the throat and infiltrating deep into the mind like a cold pain. Simply glorious. “Melaina Kholee” is more into the classic death/doom stream of the early 90s, while “Kamloranta” seems to fall under the slow atmospheric doom/black with its predominantly black metal vocals and rotten chords, giving me a reminiscence even of “For All Tid”. The 16-minutes gorgeous last track – “Aequor – The Benthic Bodies”, just wraps up what “Streams Within” is – dreamy, snowy, cold, distant, heavy, sad, yearning, under the swirling snow and the grey skies. And those mesmerising unreal keyboards, coming from a distant dream…Oh my!
Let’s face it. “Streams Within” is among the finest death/doom/black albums I have listened to most recently, carrying that tiny nostalgic feeling from the early 90s, with a slow, morbid, heavy sound and yet melodic and inspiring. I don’t think I should mention any band as a reference (but do you remember MINDROT’s “Dawning” or TENEBRAE for instance?). YAWNING VOID deserve high praise and attention. A a lot of listens and streams. “Streams Within” already fell in my list with top recommendations for January. Do not miss it! 8/10 Count Vlad
8/10 To Greatness and Glory
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