Title: Black Void Cult - Dysphoria
Date: 2021-04-03 16:15

[![Dysphoria's cover]({static}/images/dysphoria.jpg)](https://blackvoidcult.bandcamp.com/album/dysphoria)

Released in July 2020,
[Dysphoria](https://blackvoidcult.bandcamp.com/album/dysphoria) is the first
album of [Black Void Cult](https://blackvoidcult.bandcamp.com/), a symphonic
black metal band from Mexico.

All the track's titles are expressing nuances of sadness, regret, melancholy,
and despair in various languages (French, Czech, German, Russian, English, …),
and are amusingly hard to translate.  The lyrics are dealing with the
realisation of the inevitable decline of one's
own life, as well as the usually associated regrets of not having lived life to
its full extend, in a *complete* way, that everything isn't as grandiose as
initially envisioned, leading to a sentiment of melancholy and painful sorrow.

The album opens with "Lìtost", running water and clean acoustic guitar,
introducing a piano and a couple of violins and cellos, in an atmospheric way, before
bringing the drums and electric guitars, and finally, the singing and some
choirs. It ends with a furious and unexpected guitar solo. It's a really neat
introduction to the album, and feels not only great from an artistic point of
view, but also give the time to the listener to understand the construction of
the track and its layers.

Speaking of construction, this isn't your average black metal band: the sound
is clean, clear, and doesn't give the impression that it was recorded on a
vintage cellphone in a windy bathroom through the pipes of the sink. Every
instrument is identifiable and pleasant. Even the drums, which are
traditionally in this subgenre a mindless pile of monotonous kicks and snares,
are great! Everything breath, and it's a real pleasure to have this kind of
space on a black metal album, especially when there are so many instruments.

The track in the middle of the album, 4<sup>th</sup> amongst 7, is
a peaceful instrumental waltz with piano, cello and violin, providing
a nice break for introspection. Everything else is pleasantly architectured 
high quality symphonic depressive black metal, with the right amount of
adequate rhyming lyrics sung in an articulated way, technical excellence
music-wise both in writing and in execution.