VOICES
Breaking The Trauma Bond CHURCH ROAD
Akercocke alumni reveal an exhilarating kaleidoscope of darkness
Voices: a band worth investing in
FINDING NEW AND distinct ways to colour something black is quite the skill when the, ahem, shadow of at least five decades of heavy, dark and disturbing music lurches over any modern metallic or gothically inclined band. It’s the precise reason why we should champion a band like Voices with as much vigour as we possibly can. 2014’s breakout album, London, is still finding a new audience and revealing new perspectives to longtime listeners all these years later, and 2018’s Frightened only increased interest in the band. You’d like to think that Breaking The Trauma Bond will represent some kind of elevation into even greater cult status. This is a singular record that features moments of genuine genius in its ranks, and sounds unlike anyone else currently operating in metal.
The album’s title track is one of those genius moments, taking baroque piano, rhythms that swing from blastbeats to experimental hip hop and some vampiric vocals that croon and soar like an extreme metal version of Andrew Eldritch from The Sisters Of Mercy. This is two songs in and already we’re speaking about one of the broadest albums of 2021. When you consider that we’re about to be hit with grindcore, post-rock, groove metal, post-punk and, incredibly, a song like She Speaks To Him In A Dream –a ballad that sounds like Talk Talk creating the soundtrack to 80s cult movie Labyrinth – it only becomes all the more impressive.