Review: Raze The Void – Para Sempre

Style: Melodic Death Metal (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Lamb of God, Mastodon, Meshuggah, Testament, Arch Enemy
Review by: Will
Country: UK
Release date: 28 March 2023

Don’t you just love an album that starts with inhuman screeching? I do. So too do British purveyors of heavy metal Raze The Void, who show they know how to make an entrance on their new album: Para Sempre. Raze The Void have been making music while attempting to set fire to a vacuum since 2016; they have been well received at newcomer stages at music festivals, and produce music that is much more reasonable than their low Spotify listener count would have you believe.

Throughout their album, Raze The Void consistently demonstrate their commitment to making every song intro as extra as possible: The aforementioned screeching that summons opening track “The Vulture’s Bones” into being; The rhythmic complexity that is “Raison D’être”; The thrashy, almost Lamb of God flavoured gatecrashing of “Bitter”; And, of course, the melodic, doom-laden, and genuinely menacing opening to “Beggar of the Dawn”. Of course, this being a prog-influenced band, things get excessive quickly. “Edge of the Universe” cycles through at least two intros. But the crowning glory of proggy excess here is the 13-minute epic “All That Will Ever Be” which boasts a whopping five separate intros (see below).

“All That Will Ever Be” intros

1. The Mastodon Intro
2. The Iron Maiden Intro
3. The As Yet Untitled Groove Metal With Technical Elements and Pinch Harmonics Intro (Slow Pantera Intro?)
4. Lamb of God Intro
5. The Melodeath (Potentially Arch Enemy) Intro

From the list of bands above, you can likely get the sense of the numbers of genres and themes that Raze The Void visit throughout their journey with us. It’s great to hear a band trying to synthesize genres and smash them together in new ways to create something novel. In addition to thrash, prog and melodic death metal, the band toy with gothic metal in “All That Will Ever Be” and atmospheric post-rock elements á la Red Sparrowes in songs like “Linear”. 

There’s also something so wonderfully Capital-”P”-Prog about making a thirteen-minute song with five intros (and at least two outros – I was tired of counting by then). It speaks to the creativity and the amount of ideas that Raze The Void have to cram into the limited space of an album. Somehow, you get the sense that they would happily fill a double or triple length album given half the chance.

The don’t-forget-the-kitchen-sink approach to songwriting isn’t limited to Raze’s attitude to intros. There’s a maximalism to everything they do. “Edge of The Universe” is the best example of this, a whirlwind of a song that springs from two intro sections, then into busy riffing, then a spoken word poetry section, then back into raw vocals and busy riffage. It has everything! Yet, each ‘section’ of the song feels standalone and there’s no real sense of cohesion to the song as a whole. Instead of the music being a tapestry which work together to tell a story, this is more a patchwork quilt. And, while there’s nothing inherently wrong with this approach, some listeners may find that a new riff or new ‘part’ of a song every 30 seconds may numb them to the novelty of it all.

Having an abundance of ideas sometimes requires discipline on the part of the artists to edit down what to put into a song and what to leave behind. Some of these songs are so full of ideas and riffs, that few stick around long enough to be memorable, and fewer hit hard enough to be impactful. Overcomplexity is almost a mainstay of technical prog bands, but even the most technical and oversaturated bands like Cynic or Liquid Tension Experiment can moderate themselves. The negative effect of the overabundance of complexity can best be heard on tracks like “Raison D’être”, when the band try to make an impactful vocal hook, but which ultimately gets lost amidst all the other sections vying for attention.

It would also be remiss of me to neglect the graphic design for the band. Raze the Void have some pretty awesome cover artwork featuring a tree in blossom and two snakes, coiling in a circle, simultaneously a worm ouroboros as well as an ensō, a symbol of Zen buddhism. It’s something of a shame that the themes on the graphic design go no further into the band. No nod to Japanese culture (or E. R. Eddison’s book) and certainly not to the principles of minimalism, discipline and restraint of Zen Buddhism!

These nitpicks shouldn’t in any way detract from the band’s overall sound. All the musicians are incredibly talented and have an egalitarian approach to composing whereby every instrument, and vocalist is given a time to shine. Some of these moments, where the band step back and allow the listener to focus are among the strongest on the album.

With such a wealth of talent in the band, and with such promises made in the moments of triumph Para Sempre has to offer, I’m excited to see what’s next in store for Raze The Void and I will certainly be looking out for their gigs next time I’m in the UK.

Recommended tracks: Recommended Tracks: “Beggar of the Dawn”, “The Vulture’s Bones”, “The End of Everything” (Count those intros!)
You may also like: Arsena, Gutvoid
Final verdict: 7/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Twitter | Metal-Archives Page

Label: Self-Release

Raze the Void is:
– Terry Wheybrew (Bass)
– Joe Stam (Guitar, backing vocals)
– Alex Ryan (Drums)
– RJ Learmouth (Vocals)
– Russ Drummond (Guitar)
– etc.