Emptiness
Not For Music
(Season of Mist)
The latest batch of experimental metal to come out of the Season of Mist catalog is the type of thing that sounds completely ridiculous in theory. Not For Music is an odd name for the new album from a European ambient black metal group that sees them doubling down on their 80s goth and darkwave influences and was produced by a member of Marilyn Manson, featuring vocals that are halfway between a whisper and a growl. The description alone conjures up images of bearded men in corpse paint crying on a neon dancefloor and messing up their flock of seagulls haircut. Truly, there’s almost no way to describe the new and genuinely fascinating record from Belgian group Emptiness without it seeming a bit off. Dissonant, rumbling, eerie black metal that conjures up hints of early Katatonia and a downer 80s rave (especially in the downright dancy “Ever”) shouldn’t work as well as Not For Music does.
However, it’s not as if the signs weren’t there for experimental greatness. Their most recent record, Nothing but the Whole, had shades of Altar of Plagues and Godflesh in a sort of punchy ambient way, so the shift further away from traditional black metal into something more unique is drastic but does make sense. The choice of producer, Manson’s Tiggy Ramirez (aka Jeordie White, off-stage), served to emphasize the band’s electronic undercurrent, and you get the sense that he helped make the record as, ironically, musical as it is, despite its title and urge for uncomfortable dissonance. Not all of the production is perfect, but it nearly perfectly serves its function to make the listener initially uncomfortable, while still drawing him or her in. There’s an inviting undercurrent of evil laying not-so-dormant throughout the record. Despite the moments when a thrash-y riff lies just under the surface or an electronic beat takes over, the sense of dread and horror is pretty much ever-present. It’s not shock value, more of a Lovecraftian sense filtered through synthesizers.
All of this makes for a multi-faceted record that can be appreciated both for its ability to unnerve its audience and for how engaging it ends up becoming. It’s like a gorgeously shot horror film: it’s disturbing and certainly not natural, but it’s also beautiful and doesn’t want you to look away. Emptiness, for all the jokes laid upon their band and album name, have written music that is both fascinating, entertaining, and highly experimental. Thankfully, they’ve also figured out how to make the whole package more than worth the effort of engagement.
