Band:	Dolorian
Album:	Voidwards
Style:	Black metal, Doom metal
Release date:	April 30, 2006
A review by:	KwonVerge

01. Dual - Void - Trident
02. In The Locus Of Bone
03. Co-il-lusion
04. Ivory Artery
05. The Flow Of Seething Visions
06. The One Whose Name Has No End
07. The Absolute Halo Is Awakening
08. Epoch Of Cyclosure
09. The Fire Which Burns Not
10. Raja Naga - Rising

I have always considered the experience of listening to a Dolorian album a journey through the subconscious corridors of the mind, a place where our most hidden desires, fears and nightmares turn to life and there's nothing you can do to face them, you remain paralyzed by the hypnotizing atmosphere and you watch your most esoteric thoughts in the shape of dreaful figures parade in front of your very eyes.

We might have waited quite for a long time for the third full-length release of the Finnish doom metal legends Dolorian, 5 hollow years with a split with Shining inbetween, but the outcome was really worth all this longing and this is what "Voidwards" truly is, a journey towards the void of your inner sanctum. I was really curious how the new attempt of the band would sound like since "Where All The Laughter Has Gone" and "Dolorian" were pretty different, yet Dolorian still! The personal aesthetic and sound of the band are present still in the soundscapes of "Voidwards", vivid from the very beginning until the very end of it. "Voidwards" to me has elements from both their previous full-length releases, but it manages to have an air of its own as well, taking the sound of the band a step forward.

One of the characteristics Dolorian always had has to be the sound of the guitars, this special echo effect that evokes a paradox, a dreamy yet so asphyxiating feeling that floats in obscure ways in the hallucinating atmosphere is always present, whether the guitars interpret their role with their razorblade riffing, unfold their paranormal melodies or entrance your solitude with serene chords. The bass lines lend vibes from another world in the overall aesthetic of the compositions whereas the drumming sounds either imposing, devastating and threatening or softer and tranquil, like the dual feeling you get while listening to "Voidwards". The keyboard work is minimalistic, yet deeply atmosphere-evoking; sounds floating like forlorn souls in oblivion longing to be noticed, yet their song is so dismal, so obscure, so from another dimention, lying far away to be heard, blending with the echo of the guitars in such a mesmerizing way! Some FX make their appearance from time to time, adding another dreadful feeling to the compositions. Concerning the vocals now, we have various ways of expression this time. "Dolorian's" whispers have turned into something more like dark paranoid reciting this time with Happapuro standing somewhere between tranquility and paranoia while reciting, but still, there are some whispers here and there, sounding mainly like the final lasting sigh of someone departing. There are times though that the atmosphere becomes deeply distressing, intense and powerful and that's when the unearthly grunts or soul-crushing howls make their appearance, sounding deeply nightmarish, twisted to the core as a cloud of blackened mist surrounds the listener. A good addition has to be the use of double vocals at times, both grunting and howling ones at the same time, they make the vibes of the album more dissonant.

You really can't listen to seperate Dolorian songs, it's a law of the absurd nature they present, you just press the "play" button and you lose yourself through the waters of depression. There's doom and magic during the first half of "Voidwards" and then, somewhere in the middle a fantastic and deeply inspired instruemental piece of art, "The Flow Of Seething Visions", starts caressing the soul of the listener, serenity blooming in all its grandeur with threatening passages inbetween for the doom and magic aspect will keep on flowing everafter, reaching the end with the depressive opus, "Raja Naga - Rising".

Dolorian is all about esotericism and with their latest effort they are marching "voidwards" the complex of dreams, nightmares and other dimensions through tranquility and distress. One of the finest Finnish doom metal acts with personality made once again its miracle, presenting an album that gives a different meaning to words like "doom", "abstract" (just like the artistic cover) and "atmosphere".

Behold, "the absolute halo is awakening"...