Deadspace - Reaching for Silence

Residing somewhere near the depressive side of the plane of ambient black metal in the middle of Deafheaven, Ghost Bath, and Wolves in the Throne Room, Deadspace have put out a more interesting and consistent set of tracks than the latter of the two aforementioned bands put out this year.

Immediately enveloping and refreshing are the diversity of the vocals, a major highlight on this project, consisting only minimally of black metal’s ubiquitous snarling, ranging from tortured but melodic screaming to darkly serenading hushed vocals. The instrumentals behind the vocals are similarly diverse, and they do something I love hearing albums do: they get better and better one track after the next, with the only exception being the arguably unnecessary goth-y piano interlude “Phantom Limb” (which I still liked hearing). While the album is more ambient than black metal, not ever really plunging into extended blast-beat-and-growl section, its moments of heaviness are emotive and contribute to the overall mood of the record, and probably for the better as they keep the band from slipping into the genre’s clichés.

My favorite song is that which closes Deadspace’s side of the album, “Nostalgia, Like a Plague, She Rapes Me to Sleep”. From the moody opening’s transition into full catharsis with convincingly pain-drawn screams, supported against their antagonists by arpeggiated post-metal guitar, all of which weave between aggression and self-reflection, the band maintain a sense of passion I haven’t heard from a black metal album this degree all year, and they capture such passion on the tracks preceding their last too. “Glass Houses” starts the album with excellent screams backed by more familiar black metal instrumentation in a manner reminiscent of Ghost Bath, but far more potent than their average output. The more mid-paced “Flesh to Chew, Teeth to Swallow” doubles down on the shoegaze, with the vocals showing the band’s post-punk influences early on, but not getting the song hung up on that style, instead gradually ramping up toward climactic metal ambiance. “Epilogue” brings forth a similarly revealing introduction of post-punk-esque vocalization, but grows quickly more metallic and more ambient as the song showcases this influence in spades; I only wish it had stuck around a bit longer to push out maybe one more section on another higher level of intensity near the end.

My only real complaints with the album are that the band’s reliance on the loud-soft dynamic formula lends itself to repetitive structures, even as the transitions between segments are handled smoothly. The band also lean heavily on the crutch of shoegaze-y guitar-work across the whole album, even though they show great potential when they depart from it.

I greatly enjoyed Deadspace’s part on this album, and even though I streamed it to check it out, I quickly purchased their five tracks and have been listening to it as I write this.

They are on Bandcamp and I suggest checking them out.