Akercocke associates Voices prepare to launch their mindboggling new album

Voices promo pic 2018, by Paul Harries — (Image credit: Paul Harries)

Should you find yourself looking for refuge, consolation, psychological catharsis or an opportunity to extend your intoxication to four dimensions at the very least after next Saturday’s England match, then consider The Black Heart in Camden as your personal Mecca. The famed drinking den, in collaboration with Old Empire and Artery Global, is hosting London’s mindbending reprobates Voices as they launch their startling new release, Frightened, and having heard the album itself, we can guarantee the gig is going to blow your mind, torch your soul and send you down a sonic rabbit hole far beyond the reach of their extreme metal roots.

Forged from what was then the ashes of Akercocke six years ago, Voices have gone on to become one of the most mercurial and musically adventurous in the UK underground, swapping the Satanic odes of their alma mater for freewheeling fights with personal demons – and all labyrinthine internal journeys that entails

Even by their standards, though, Frightened is a thrilling, leftfield lurch, all but abandoning extreme metal for progressive yet emotionally resonant territories that bind exhilarating unpredictability and fearless self-reckoning.

“We are entering new territories,” says guitarist and co-vocalist Sam Loynes of the upcoming gig. “We have a new band member, Matt Adnett from Shrines, who has breathed life into the arena. The songs off Frightened need care and attention, they are rife with genuine emotional trauma and profundity. We shall ensure this weight is conveyed in London this Saturday night. It has been some time for us to reach our zenith and we hope our London followers can endure the tragedy of love and pain.”

Voices play The Black Heart on Saturday July 7. Get your tickets here!

As well as the gig, Voices are also preparing to launch an epic new video for the track Dead Feelings. “By way of Sun Ra, Ingmar Bergman and David Lynch,” says Sam, “we have arrived at our most ambitious music video to date. We battled heat waves in underpasses, storms upon the high rises and trespassing the city. We chose Dead Feelings as we believe it represents the new sonic realm we have embraced. Melancholy, detached and extreme. Embrace the rain.”

Check out a short trailer below!

Having freelanced regularly for the Melody Maker and Kerrang!, and edited the extreme metal monthly, Terrorizer, for seven years, Jonathan is now the overseer of all the album and live reviews in Metal Hammer. Bemoans his obsolete superpower of being invisible to Routemaster bus conductors, finds men without sideburns slightly circumspect, and thinks songs that aren’t about Satan, swords or witches are a bit silly.