Review: Inanna ‘Void Of Unending Depths’
Don’t you just love it when you come across a record that sends you down a rabbit hole of killer music from the group’s respective country? Today’s review comes from the beautiful South American country of Chile and its highly under-appreciated and under-discussed extreme metal scene.
Spawning back to the mid-eighties during the country’s period under dictator Augusto Pinochet, the scene is still burning strong today. Chile has graced us with killer acts like Torturer, Death Yell, Godless, Coffin Curse, Horrifying, Rotten Tomb (released a killer record this year, you should check that out!), and loads more, each channelling the extremes of the landscape with the driest place on the earth, the Atacama Desert, and a bunch of active volcanoes to create their ultra-caustic sound which is full of aggression.
Throughout discovering the Chilean scene, I found that, in my honest opinion, my favourite of the groups are death metal heavy weights Inanna, whom I have the absolute pleasure of discussing today. The album is titled Void Of Unending Depths and is out now via Memento Mori. Named after an ancient Mesopotamian goddess and formed back in 2000 in the capital city Santiago, Inanna boast two full-lengths and two live records in their back catalogue. The four-piece return after a ten-year gap since their last full-length record Transfigured In A Thousand Delusions and are largely unchanged in line-up apart from a move for guitarist Carlos Fuentes to behind the kit and guitarist Cristóbal González, who is recording his first material with the band.
Transfigured In A Thousand Delusions was well received and its sound is a considerable step away from the countries usual savage and gritty death metal scene. It’s more complex and considered with clear influences from other areas of music, notably the progressive side of the spectrum. This complex and dynamic sound is continued on Void Of Unending Depths which features more fluid riffage and clever use of melodics to add a real depth to their sound. This dynamism is coupled with the group producing their very darkest and bleakest sound yet, it makes for a fascinating yet pretty modern listen, those melodic guitar licks reminded me of the some of the great ‘technical’ death metal coming out of Florida in the 80s, which can never be a bad thing.
it’s fantastically dark and murky…
The musicianship on here is excellent and complex like the previously discussed monstrous riffing to the pulverising display from behind the kit, or the shifting and effortless bass lines that will hook you in from the first note. It’s all excellent but most importantly it never detracts from Inanna’s strongest asset, their songwriting. The record is so well put together, you never find yourself wanting to skip a track or wondering how long you have left, it flows really well. This songwriting and fluidity make for an incredible atmosphere on Void Of Unending Depths, it’s fantastically dark and murky, like it’s drawing down the sun in front of your very eyes, traversing you across the void to explore death and everything that surrounds it. That journey is perfectly led by the agonised and savage vocals that just encapsulate everything this record is about.
I hope that if you are influenced to check this record out by my review that you fall down the Chilean extreme metal rabbit hole that I did. You might want to check your bank balance beforehand though… fair warning! Because you’re going to want to buy a lot! At the very least you need to pick up Void Of Unending Depths as Inanna have gone and produced an early contender for my legendary end of year list that will be read by at least four people! Jokes aside, this is top quality, it’s been in my rotation for weeks and can’t see it leaving any time soon!
Label: Memento Mori
Band Links: Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram
Scribed by: Matt Alexander
