Michael Hojjatie
Our pick for ALBUM OF THE WEEK at ViaOmega (www.viaomega.com and @viaomega on Instagram and on Facebook) for the week of 6/20/2022.
Favorite track: Succumb.
Dante Ruivo
Death/doom pending more to the death side, I love it. The mix is my only gripe, I think the guitars are kinda buried, but overall, highly enjoyable for fans of the genre.
Favorite track: Bile.
On June 10th internationally, PERSONAL RECORDS is proud to present VOIMATON's highly anticipated debut album, Profane Vestige, on CD and cassette tape formats. The vinyl LP version will follow later this year.
VOIMATON is a word of Finnish origin, which loosely translated means "powerless."
Fittingly, the band's lyrical themes center around the failings of humanity, nihilism, and feeling powerless in the face of nature’s cruel inflictions upon mankind. Even more fittingly, VOIMATON's brand of death-doom blends crushing traces of Cianide and Saint Vitus with the off-kilter weirdness of '90s Finnish death metal. It's a sick sound that's simultaneously familiar yet refreshing.
The conception of VOIMATON began immediately following the demise of local outfit Narcotic in 2016, whose lineup included Dave Tibbets (vocals, bass) and Pat O’Hara (drums). While VOIMATON had no official name at the time, and despite numerous false-starts throughout 2017 and 2018, Dave and Pat finally welcomed Henry Fordney (ex-Sable Beldam) into the fold in November 2018 to help bring VOIMATON into the physical realm, solidifying the trio. Wasting no time in digitally releasing a three-track demo in 2019, VOIMATON then released two more digital EPs the next year, Promo E.P. (Live Rehearsal - 01/25/2020) and LiveWire Lounge - Dec 14th, 2019, which were both later released physically by LIfe After Death Records.
Now, VOIMATON arrive with their full-length debut, Profane Vestige. A grand summation and culmination of all the prodigious promise shown by those short-length releases, Profane Vestige is everything a debut album should be: an encapsulation of the recent past plus the pursuit of new realms. To be sure, the hulking VOIMATON sound is alive and well here - caveman riffing given gnarly twists, clobbering breakdowns that break apart, a sweltering dampness of atmosphere - but it's the songwriting itself which shows the massive strides the band have made since their formation. True, much of the album comprises earlier tracks, but here they're given their fullest elucidation, twisting and turning with tension and unease, keeping the listener fully unsettled during the album's 40-minute duration but never forgetting to CRUSH them every step of the way. It's a classicist death metaller's dream record: well within their boundaries of pure 'n' proud tradition, but skewed just enough underneath (and above) to make it stand out.
Adorned with nightmarishly detailed cover artwork courtesy of the well-respected Noah Cutter Meihoff, VOIMATON's Profane Vestige sounds much the way it looks. What horrors await within?
supported by 33 fans who also own “Profane Vestige”
I'm kicking my own ass for somehow missing this when it released. Expertly arranged death metal with kick drums that could demolish a high-rise. zirtonic
supported by 29 fans who also own “Profane Vestige”
An outstanding Extreme doom death album, in the best tradition. The funerary atmosphere reminds of Evoken ('Centuries of ooze" bears striking similarities, for my delight). It is overall sharp, dark, hypnotic and unrelenting. One of those rare convincing new bands that hold proud the legacy of the biggest names. Bertrand Marchal
supported by 28 fans who also own “Profane Vestige”
I wouldnt call it blackened death but it certainly has the bleak dark atmosphere akin to Akhlys or Watain while pummeling you with pure death metal and a touch of dissonance and doominess á la Morbid Angel..it really combines almost everything i love about metal and theres not a weak spot on here..their first album was good but this is stylistically much different and a vast improvement. Queefer Sutherland
A foreboding black-doom metal dirge, meditating on a dark world caked in ash, resulting from all the Earth’s nuclear arsenal detonating at once. Bandcamp Album of the Day Jun 14, 2018
supported by 28 fans who also own “Profane Vestige”
Can't believe I'm getting on this 2 years late. Such a well-crafted experience, it is exactly what I've been craving out of the doomgaze subgenre. Heavy, sprawling, dark and mysterious. Heroin is less addictive. Magnus Blackwood