Metal history is littered with stellar debuts. It’s also chock full of albums that were able to take multiple genres and merge them into a sort of rainbow coalition of extremity. But for a band to hit home runs on both fronts is a rare and unique feat for sure. Colorado’s Call Of The Void has just joined some pretty select company.
Grindcore, crust/d-beat and hardcore have always been kissing cousins. Their lines are consistently interwoven throughout metal’s history books like a spider’s web, each often relying on the other to catch prey. Call Of The Void are a band that do more than dabble in each genre. They mix and match and splatter their influences all over their musical canvas like Jackson Pollack on a meth binge. The sheer brutality of grind, the anger and ferocity of crust and the rhythmic sensibilities of hardcore are all in play here. Tracks like “Bottom Feeder” are the norm – starting off with blistering blast beats, shifting gears to a somewhat melodic interlude only to be followed up by the pit-inducing final frames. The entire record takes this roller coaster ride over and over again. Just like a kid at an amusement park fans of all these various forms of musical annihilation will want to ride this beast until they are on the brink of puking. It’s just that good.
Dragged Down A Dead End Path is the band’s debut album, released back in March through the mighty Relapse Records. Those kids in Philly still know how to pick some winners when signing bands and they seemingly have another one on their hands here. Fans of everything from His Hero Is Gone to Nasum to Integrity are going to find a lot to like with this band. You can check out the entire record at your leisure over on the band’s Bandcamp page. I highly suggest you do it post haste.
Metal Homework:
Most people know, or at least they should know, the band Agent Steel. But how many of you out there remember the band that they formed out of? Abattoir was a totally underrated gem of the L.A. metal scene in the early 80’s Their combination of speed metal and early power metal was killer. Your homework is to revisit their 1985 classic, Vicious Attack.
