Doom as a genre has many layers that have morphed and split off into new sub-categories – yet there’s nothing quite so appealing as the classic form of the movement. We know the key players: Candlemass and Solitude Aeturnus, but over the course of the last few years acts like Sorcerer and Crypt Sermon have given renewed vitality that has seemed to be rewarded in stronger support globally. Void Moon from Sweden may deserve more talk in the conversation – active since 2009, they’ve released three previous albums (their debut On the Blackest of Nights in 2012 appearing on Cruz del Sur Music). Reduced to a duo for 2020’s The Autumn Throne, they’ve taken their time to issue this fourth full-length record Dreams Inside the Sun – another nine-track odyssey into the melancholy riffs, majestic vocal melodies in various morose to powerful ranges, as well as slower tempos that somehow turn the darkness or dreary atmosphere into a positive outcome.
Peter Svensson handles the bass, rhythm and most of the lead guitars (he gets guest solo support from Martin Jespen Andersen of Meridian and Kjetil Lyngahug of Paganizer on certain tracks) while Marcus Rosenkvist performs the drums while taking on lead vocals. These musicians knowing the key sequences to propel the arrangements with grace, grandiose hooks, and thoughtful pacing which is not easy to achieve in this field without repeating oneself. Open spaces lead to fruitful, mesmerizing passages that even in the simplified moments unearth gems of bliss – check out the soaring upper register melodies against the Candlemass-esque riffs for “Broken Skies”, while the lower bass lines next to the churning drum/guitar foundation puts “The Dreaming Spire” into that classic mold of “Harvester of Sorrow” taken at half speed next to Heaven and Hell-era Black Sabbath. The tones, production values, epic / sadness lyrical scope all add to the heavy attitude present through these tracks – Marcus knowing when to layer his choruses or background vocals around his solid state singing all the way to the epic 8:34 ending “The Wolf (at the End of the World)” – the semi-gear gallop musical shift midway through a dynamic surprise that should get everyone doom dancing.
Adequately keeping this at ideal vinyl time for 44 minutes (they say 21-23 minutes a side achieves the best sound without sacrificing the frequencies), Void Moon have released another earth-shaking effort in Dreams Inside the Sun. Let in the light, bask in the cascading riffs plus emotive, titanic lead breaks, as this material epitomizes the timelessness of great classic doom when done correctly.