Published by Davide Pappalardo on April 25, 2018
Jund is the new album by Voidscream, an experimental dark-psyctrance project born in 2012 from the mind of German producer Henning Hinck. Since then, he has published two digital albums, Chasing Ghosts under Fractal Audio Machinery and Cadaverous Bloom under Scared Evil Records. These are works where he mixes hard psytrance elements with breakcore, rhythmic noise and other electronic styles in order to achieve a personal take on the genre. With Jund, published on Anomalistic Records, things get darker thanks to industrial and dark ambient sounds, while retaining the syncopated structures and the fast-driven nature of his music.
Terminate is a perfect example of this style: it starts with a dark ambient eerie atmosphere, adding during is development horror vocal samples and sharp industrial sounds. Then, a psytrance rhythm takes hold of the track, completed by fast beats and a grooving bass. Electro elements and dark soundscapes unite in an enthralling piece made for the dancefloor, be it alternative or not. Another number called Goblin bomb is a lysergic affair combining evocative synth-lines and mechanical rhythms. Then, it collides into a steady psytrance structure, and in the middle section of the track we find breakcore elements and sci-fi atmospheres.
Pyroclasm sees the help of fellow psytrance artist Delp, a brooding affair starting with cutting effects and militant beats. The track grows thanks to the adding of dissonant futuristic elements, and later it even displays deep dark ambient sounds and hard drum machine rhythms. The last track Legion loyalist is an interesting addition: it’s a In-Toxica (no info about this project) track featuring Voidscream, It starts with a vocal sample taken from a movie, and then a fast trance rhythm shows itself with distant electro elements and eerie ambiances. Of course, broken rhythms are not forgotten, and the tempo of the track is driven by fast beats and snares. During the second half of the piece the artist plays with more restrained rhythms and interesting bass-lines spicing things up.
Voidscream is searching for a personal sound in which a dark take on psytrance is perfected by the adding of breakcore, dark ambient, and rhythmic patterns. The style is developed by long tracks which menage to not sound boring thanks to the alternation fast psytrance moments and more controlled and experimental pauses where he shows a playful songwriting while retaining all the dark elements of his music. Jund is probably his best work to date, fully displaying the peculiarities of his personal sound, We are sure there is more to come in the future, this is a chapter in a developing path.
Label: Anomalistic Records
Rating: 7