Craft - Void (2011)

Void is an album that had sort of the opposite affect on me as its predecessor Fuck the Universe. Here is one that I quite liked upon its release, but have gradually grown a little bored of throughout the years. It sort of mirrors that Darkthrone era from 1996-2006 in its bleakness, only I happen to find all of those records more memorable. Actually, I don't want to complete drag this one through the dirt, because there's a lot going on here that I do like aesthetically, more going on in fact than what's on those Norwegian records, and in the right setting I'll still spin it, but often I'll pick and choose particular tracks rather than crave the experience as a whole. I can promise that it is as grim and apocalyptic as anything else they've ever put out, so...no worries there.

This is dense, slow, and atmospheric, with a selection of those simple Hellhammer/Celtic Frost derived grooves being sliced through by the tremolo picking parts. I'm glad for that exchange, actually, because it makes tunes like "Come Resonance of Doom" or "The Ground Surrenders" somewhat listenable. It isn't until "Succumb to Sin" where those leaden, thick rhythm guitar riffs really pull their own weight with an actually amazing riff, and that's my favorite track on the album with ease. A lot of the other patterns here just feel a little stale and leaning upon the atmospherics to get by. Another highlight are the eerie melodies in "Bring on the Clouds", but the latter half of Void is dominated by these longer songs in which I don't feel entirely fulfilled, they impress me in parts but can become a burden in their entirety. There is one track there, "I Want to Commit Murder" which has some faster riffing to break it up, but that one doesn't have a lot of payoff even when it slows back down with its thuggish bridge riff.

The vocals and consistency of mood here do a lot to keep it coherent; the former as resonant and evil as ever, though they do feel somewhat monotonous along the gray din of the songwriting. Yeah, this is an album you 'hear' by looking at the cover, and vice versa. It's certainly playing within the confines of Craft's tookbox, and suckers for its influences, or the slower, rawer side of black metal or black & roll will find that it stays pretty truthful to the aesthetics, but it hasn't aged for me as well as the albums on either side of it, and these days it's the last in their discography that I'm likely to revisit, though I'd throw "Succumb to Sin" on a condensed compilation of tunes if I were introducing someone to their music. It's competent, it's Craft, it's certainly not bad or even mediocre, the lyrics maintain the upgrade they got with Fuck the Universe; but it's down the trenches for now.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10] (Old, deformed and barren)

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