Twin Void start their new album off with a mix of all of our worst nightmares, a whole bunch of reports about Covid spreading and I’m sure it will hit most people in the face with a little dose of PTSD from the last few years. Following that the track “HELLCAT” rolls in like freight train with gritty guitar, fierce vocals and drums that have a Black Sabbath vibe to them. This group has an interesting melding of everything from Garage Rock and Metal to Punk and Hardcore all wrapped into one cohesive sound. It’s not often you hear stuff like this but these guys feel like well rounded musicians that even throw little bits of country twang into tracks like “Bird Days” but then immediately circle back to big fuzzy dark heavy riffs that are somewhere between Pantera and Black Sabbath. The vocals of band founder Nathan Bidwell is the perfect tone to really drive these songs. You gotta love when a band could be that on one track and the next minute sound like The Minutemen on “Poor Ol’ Me”.
Moments like the start of “Set Me On Fire” and “You Can Hear The Devil Walkin’” let us hear more of how blues inspired this band is as well. I think anytime a band has a release like this where they are not recreating the wheel but I also can’t pin down exactly what I think they sound like, that band has successfully created something truly original. Twin Void is one of those bands who can do so many different things well and you can instantly tell you are listening to them because of the distinct strong style that bursts through in every track. The guitar tone, Bidwell’s vocals, the classic hard rock drumming, it all culminates in what most bands strive to get to. The back half of the album never waivers either, in spots where most bands stick their weaker songs Twin Void just continues to showcase all the different things they can do as the album stays focused and builds right on through to the last track “You Can Hear The Devil Walkin’”. “California Death-Rattle” has the sludgiest grungiest riff as Bidwell shouts “There’s a Devil comin out of me!” and it’s a perfect line to sum up this album, it’s like a rock and roll exorcism!
