Solo French artist Antoine Scholtès has been productive with his Inherits the Void projects with an EP and 3 albums since 2021, and the 4th album, The Silent Abscission, was released earlier this summer. On album number 4, he is again joined by some session players, who are pretty well known; drummer Nico Muller (ex-Otargos, ex- Svart Crown), who appeared on the last album, but now he’s also aided by vocalist Romain Negro (ex-Stortregn, Apolaustic).
The result is a pretty darn killer melodic black metal album that reminds me of fellow French solo artist Sühnopfer, but slightly less… ‘busy’, but certainly in that same super layered, shrill, but melodic wheelhouse, or a less medieval Passéisme.
I have not heard the prior three efforts, but I certainly will check them out, as Scholtès knows his way around a searing tremolo-picked melodic riff. That becomes abundantly clear towards the climactic ending of the opening track “The Sepulcher of Time”, where a gorgeously rendered arpeggio surfaces, and I’m fully vested in what the rest of the album offers.
Every track offers something to remember or go back to and relisten to. The layered riffs, subtle keys, as well as some cleverly layered vocal fx and clean singing, all deliver something brilliantly melodic and bitingly elegant. Whether it’s the blistering title track, or the familiar Immortal/ Abbath stomp that arises in the otherwise shimmering “Into the Shadow of the Falling Star”, the more moody, but still intricately layered moments of “The Last Cry of the Cosmos” (the riff at 4:40 is just perfect).
A sultry saxophone appears in “Wrath of the Endless Sea” and the almost nine-minute, varied and perfectly placed and structured closing track, “Inherits the Void”, just to keep you interested and throw a little curveball into the salvo of gorgeous, yet sharp riffs and structures.
The album sounds perfect for this style of music with a master from Spain’s Simon Da Silva, who has worked with everyone from Aversio Humanitas to Avulsed. And with all those thigns together, this is a must hear for fans of the style, and I will certainly be checking out the prior efforts.
