Void King - The Hidden Hymnal : Chapter 2
Argonauta Records – 2025
Metal, Doom, Stoner, Prog
Rated: *****
The first chapter to The Hidden Hymnal story was released in 2023 and made it to the Number 9 spot of the April Doom Charts and gathered many new fans from all over the globe for the one and only Void King. The fourpiece from Indianapolis, Indiana in the USA released their first three track effort Zep Tepi almost exactly ten years ago and immediately turned heads with their gasoline dripping stoner doom. And with every release they stepped up their game and left many of us craving the fumes coming out of their doom metal exhaust pipes. And now, with The Hidden Hymnal : Chapter 2 we are treated to the Void King weaving an even grander tapestry, delivering a concept album about birth and death, about origin, creation and departure. Soulful and atmospheric, the songs dive deep into the very nature of soul and being, trans morphing the sound into ever more layered or barren soundscapes, whatever the composition calls for. Void King has evolved quickly from their earlier motoring and blues derivations into this more melodic and complex stuff, and now, as mentioned, with The Hidden Hymnal : Chapter 2 they are getting into grand conceptual suites. This is the kind of pie you eat whole, at once or not at all.
The seven tracks and forty one minutes of progressive doom starts off with the almost nine minute long The Birth Of All Things. Seemingly creating its own oxygen between the different riffs and lines, the instruments inhabit their very own spot in the composition. Leaving room for the gritty vocals to become the burly troubadour that can wind its tale or spin a more evocative narrative that turns his serrated voice into pure gold. Crackling drums, spreading the shadowy sound ever wider like a majestic fire can do while the bass runs deep and low kindling the slow and building force. With almost nine minutes the opening track along feels like an album on its own. A tour de force opening that promises as much as an opening song possibly can. And the following, and as a single released, A Union Of Expired Souls, takes the slow and low into a different thunder and lightning area, instantly delivering on that promise. Those two sections of this bold and weighted album, offer instantaneous satisfaction for the metal lover. Grappling doom over prog and throwing menacing riffs and thrilling tones in whirling sections all around you…
A new chapter calls for a Prologue, a two minute long scene setter that offers the listener a glimpse behind the curtain and an insight into the shadowy blanket that will come down upon you. For following Attrition with its battering drum opening, will wear you down, not just because of the ever descending lines, the desperate lyrics show a mind at the very end of its tether. The questioning is its only resolve, it’s only minor spark amid all its worrying in the dark. Convalescence, follows, and wants to show the other side of the Attrition coin, but cannot, in good conscience pass by all the questions that still reside in its mind. Growing ever darker and less subtle, the album becomes oppressive and stifling towards the Expiration track. Fitting title and the denseness of the riffs, the vocals become growling and fill you with a worry about expiring. Luckily, there is still the Epilogue that even though it descends into a dark territory first as if stepping on a staircase towards the bottom, you also seems to get the feeling that like an M C Escher like variation, you end up at the top and are ready to be reborn…
And we are honored to bring you all the FULL ALBUM PREMIERE for The Hidden Hymnal : Chapter 2 tomorrow, Wednesday the 23th of April. So, check back tomorrow to hear this glorious new VOID KING album in Full!
(Written by JK)
Bandcamp
Facebook
Instagram
Grand Sounds PR
Argonauta Records
