Album Review: Epping Forest – LebaBVoid (Unexploded Records)

Released March 10th 2017 via Unexploded Records, LebaBVoid is the new album by Portuguese Blackened Death metallers Epping Forest.

The wall of noise that hits you on opening track, Inception: Everblasting Doom is akin to shock & awe tactics. Blacker then the darkest night with a nasty rough sound to it, the mix of bile-inducing evil vocals, clean moments of singing, brutal riffing & drumming really grabs the attention.

Things get even more exciting with Though-O-Matic: The Pyramid and the Exodus. The unsettling gothic tone & blasting guitar rhythm showcasing a glorious combo of black & death metal. The brief clean singing section is what you’ll definitely remember though.

There is so much inventiveness & imagination throughout LebaBVoid it’s unreal. The glorious use of a piano in Affair: The Curse and the Heal & the soaring melody marks it out as one of the best tracks on the album. The short & sharp stab to the ear that is Kira: Resistance is Useless really leaves its mark while the epic melody of LeabB Void: The Universe in a Machine confirms what you should already know…this is a very special album.

For all its furious black metal stylings, it’s the stunning melodic moments, the clean singing & rhythmic guitars that really stand out. This is an epic in every sense of the word but without compromising the darkness that exists throughout.

Wrapping things up with the face melting heaviness of Demise: Twelve Times Twelve Sars & the wonderful head-banging rhythm of Hereafter: We Are Alone in the End. It’s the ending combo that doesn’t go for much in the way of melody but it doesn’t mean they are found lacking at all. Epping Forest will blow you away, be it with beautiful melodies or destructive black metal riffs & hooks.

The upbeat bonus track Cruel With Us isn’t necessarily needed but it certainly doesn’t do many harm!

Epping Forest – LebaBVoid Full Track Listing:

1. Inception: Everblasting Doom
2. Though-O-Matic: The Pyramid and the Exodus
3. Affair: The Curse and the Heal
4. Kira: Resistance is Useless
5. LebaB Void: The Universe in a Machine
6. Foretoken: A Mountain-Gorges Lullaby (orchestrations originally by Gae Blog)
7. Summoning: Three Hundred out of the Sky
8. Demise: Twelve Times Twelve Sars
9. Hereafter: We Are Alone in the End
10. Cruel With Us (Bonus Track)

Head over to Bandcamp or BigCartel to stream/buy the digital album or physical version. You can find out more about the band now via their official website, Facebook & YouTube.