Emptiness – Nowhere Speaks

How many Belgian metal acts can you name without looking it up first? Enthroned was the only one that came to mind for yours truly, so when presented with the fact that Belgian “legends” Emptiness are now releasing their 7th full length album, I got curious as to the definition of the word legend. Then I spent a day checking out Emptiness and realized what a fool I’ve been.

We’ll get to the glorious mess that is Nowhere Speaks, but a little background on the band seems needed before we get there.

This group of misfits was founded all the way back in 1998 and whilst there’s been personnel changes since then, Emptiness has clearly never been a revolving door and seems to have had more or less the same people involved since 2016. They currently consist of Jeremie Bezier on bass and vocals, Olivier J.L.W. on guitars and synths, Simon L. on guitars, Dea Hydra on synths, and Laye Louhenapessy smacking away on the drums.

Emptiness seems more than happy to just gloss over their last two albums, Not For Music and Vide, and instead focus – in their promotional package – on how Nowhere Speaks is a direct continuation of Nothing But the Whole, an album released all the way back in 2014. That’s intriguing enough to have my attention.

Vide is their latest release and it was an album that waded into Post-Punk and Darkwave, as well as Jazz. And it received less than favourable reviews. Nothing But the Whole was a jazzy, experimental, Avant-Garde Metal album that received glowing reviews among metal purists, and that’s understandably where Emptiness wants to return to. And what a return.

Nowhere Speaks is the very definition of Avant-Garde. It starts with “Nothing But The Whole (Part 2)”, a song that aims to pick up exactly where the 2014 album left off, and it starts off mid-song. No intro, no soft start. Then it dies away. Only a bit over a minute long. It sets an eerie tone, giving us the feel that we’re in for something we might not have experienced before.

Then comes “The Threat” and “Nowhere Speaks”. Together, these two tracks create a sonic landscape that is dense, bass-heavy, chaotic yet controlled, jazzy, hyper-experimental and about as catchy as a dead fish. But this album is not about catchiness. It’s not about memorable riffs. It’s about whispered, unintelligible noises and the breakdown of melody. It’s about feeling. It’s about that unexplainable thing that just hooks you, even when there is no hook. This is not an album you listen to and headbang, it’s a dreary atmospheric piece, best compared to strolling through a perfectly curated, modern art exhibition while a storm is demolishing the city around you. It’s unpleasant, but fantastic.

“Words To Wind” is 8 minutes of stumbling, disorientated music with zero groove, but it’s expertly crafted, eerie and effective, a sentiment that could easily describe this entire album. The majority of the rest of it is filled with stuff that reminds you of Sunbather and Mogwai, but there’s also a lot of Shining (the Norwegian band, not the Swedish one), and Dissection at display. The disoriented, anti-groove and anti-melodic-feel defines the entirety of this Avant-Garde feast and I don’t feel the need to focus on individual tracks towards the end, because they all follow the same, grey, dystopian, depressed and glorious pattern. Instead, I’d like to focus on Jeremie Bezier before this review is done.

Bezier seems to be the one constant in Emptiness’ existence. He’s been on vocals and bass since 1998, and he’s the one producing, mixing and mastering this album. That’s not usually a job I believe should be left to one of the band members, but in this case, it seems to provide that spark of magic. Bezier knows his own music, he is very aware of what he is trying to achieve, and I believe that is what leads to Nowhere Speaks being such a consistent, gaze-inspired, artistic gem. There is no compromise here, there is zero catering. This is Emptiness, and if you’ve never checked them out before; this is where you start. This is a solid contender for album of the year.

https://www.facebook.com/Emptiness.be