Refulgent Void – Tearing Through The Firmament [Demo]

Artist: Refulgent Void
Country: Finland
Label: River Valley Cult
Formats: Demo Tape
Year: 2024

While Refulgent Void might be a new entity on the Black Metal firmament, it is the brainchild of A.O. whose Sokeus already appealed to me in 2023. ‘Tearing Through The Firmament’ is the first feat for this newest musical vehicle of A.O. and brings us two tracks of harsh sounding Black Metal.

Sokeus’ ‘Immortal Wisdom’-demo showcased a crude sounding sort of Black Metal that is heavily laced with Noise, Punk and even some doomy passages all wrapped in thoroughly raw and Lo-Fi production. Refulgent Void, for a large part, is quite a bit in the same musical vein, but with a distinctly more piercing sound. This demo, clocking in well under ten minutes, shows bits and pieces of a various range of bands. From the more basic Black Metal of the harshest Judas Iscariot to the more Punkish quirkiness of Oksennus and from the crudeness of Bone Awl to the unorthodoxy and experimentalism of bands like Jumalhämärä or later Mayhem. A.O. mixes in all sorts of elements that do blend together in an almost inextricable chaos and disorder, the dissonance, the wicked sounding lead melodies, they are all entangled in an evil and cosmic sounding whirling vortex.

The ear-piercing sound of these two tracks in combination with the rather uncommon way of crafting riffs, loads of dissonance and unconventional tempo changes make ‘Tearing Through The Firmament’ a rather uncomfortable listen. But definitely one that makes you hit that play-button over and over again. It sounds eccentric, psychedelic, ethereal even, but above all, it has a strong attraction that is hard to put into words. In that sense, this demo’s title is very appropriately chosen. It definitely feels like you are being torn through a never-ending and utterly dark cosmos.