The void, indifference to our existence, things of inconceivable dimensions that defy both our logic and our perception: the world of Nowhere Speaks is as alluring as it is familiar. This cosmic darkness with its Lovecraftian overtones is a (non-Euclidean, of course) angle that never fails to make an impression (note that Nowhere Speaks is released on the same day as the latest Inferno, another monolith of cosmic black metal with an industrial coldness). It took Emptiness five years to bring to life the follow-up to Vide, an album that delved a little deeper into the zones of discomfort explored by the Belgian band… recorded almost live in the studio, Nowhere Speaks nevertheless takes an unexpected turn: temporal distortion.
Back in 2014, you might have been listening to Nothing but the Whole, an abyssal spiral of darkness, and just as you were being hypnotised by Lowland, with its deeply doom-laden conclusion, the trance would come to an abrupt end right in the middle of a riff. A refusal to please our eardrums that was both frustrating and open to interpretation... but also a proper cliffhanger that finds its continuation in the equally abrupt opening of Nowhere Speaks. Nothing but the Whole, Pt. 2 picks up right where Emptiness left us in 2014 and, from its very title, establishes itself as a direct sequel. A surprising choice following 2021's Vide and its rejection of distortion, which had opened up a whole range of possibilities for the band’s future.
We had no idea where Emptiness was going to drag us; we weren’t expecting a trip down memory lane: the wormhole opens, and we find ourselves sucked into this architecture of dissonance, into the monumental menace that emanates from The Threat, with that guttural voice chanting from a timeless realm that exists only in the darkest recesses of our madness. It brings to mind the dark spells of Light of the Morning Star with this icy, nocturnal atmosphere, these echoes filled with ravenous ghosts and madness. Emptiness teases with gothic atmospheres during very effective laments. Black metal, avant-garde, industrial ritual… the Belgians juggle the malevolence at their disposal to annihilate us in a thrilling whole made up of dark secrets and unspeakable nightmares.
One must, however, look beyond the initial reaction and the surprise at seeing them backtrack – the surprise at the lack of surprise, so to speak. Until now, we hadn’t got used to seeing Emptiness repeat themselves. Well, to be honest, it’s difficult to get used to anything with Emptiness, given their relative rarity and their tendency to venture into ever more distant realms. This in no way detracts from the dramatic power of When the Whole Arrives – a servile incantation of dissolution into nothingness – nor from the seething malice of the sinister Words to Win, nor from the chaotic heaviness of The Clash of Forces. The sound has certainly become richer, denser and more intense: with its alienating loops, Nowhere Speaks takes the form of a new, obscure ritual, a mad obsession that takes hold of us at night. It is massive, intimidating, terrifying and of a fascinating splendour.
Ironically, in 2014, Emptiness titled one of their tracks The Past is Death. Emptiness, death: there is certainly a thematic connection worth exploring! The band can fully embrace this role, which suits them down to the ground, lending this look back a few mournful undertones that one can never say no to. After a grand finale where the violence of black metal does not preclude a bittersweet melancholy, All For Nothing leaves us… by introducing Go and Hope, the opening track of the 2014 album. Nowhere Speaks begins where Nothing but the Whole ends and comes to a close where its predecessor is reborn. The two albums must therefore be viewed as a single entity – a double album whose two parts have been lost in time, separated by eons – as well as an invitation to lose oneself eternally in this malevolent and hypnotic loop...
After all, when logic, reason, time and space no longer make sense, what could be more logical than condemning ourselves for eternity to this sort of Sisyphus torment? Let us therefore wager that, in the great cycle of death—as we know—even death may die: by choosing to return to its past to ‘come full circle’, Emptiness also symbolically brings a cycle to a close. And what if, by returning to the past in order to better bury it, Nowhere Speaks were, paradoxically, inviting us to look towards the future from now on? Or will Vide stay forever as an anomaly? Time will tell but in the meantime, let's listen to the darkest secrets whispered by nothingness!
