Call of the Void, Dragged Down a Dead End Path

I’ve been fortunate enough to come across some outstanding debuts in my time whether they be blasting grind, furious death metal or scathing, blackened mayhem from some cold, dark country. Colorado’s Call of the Void could easily be added to the list with the awesomely potent Dragged Down a Dead End Path and it’s bone-fusing blend of crust, punk and grind delivered as fiercely and as violently as possible.

Often teetering on the verge of full-blown grind-core (there are blastbeats a plenty throughout the album), the music here tends to sway back to crusty hardcore and moshing riffs for safety. I think had the guys in Call of the Void taken that head-first plunge into the grinding wood chipper of pleasure, we’d be at the edge of something great with Dragged Down a Dead End Path. As it stands, just when you think the song is going to devolve into a blinding feeding frenzy of manic destruction, the guys quickly reign it all back in with some bottom heavy hardcore.

Opening track “Failure” is a prime example and in a way sort of sets the template for each song to follow — grind, grind, grind, teeter, hardcore… Each song isn’t always the same of course, but once the fury is let loose, these guys should just let it go fucking berserk and pick the up the pieces later instead of trying to tame a beast that just wants to run amok. Still, the music on this album is bruising and violent. So, that’s all good by me.

The opening of “Theory of Mind” is frenzied and indicative of the fury that these guys can bring to the table. “Bottom Feeder” starts off strong, but quickly settles into some crusty riffage that carries a good bit of head banging groove that will have neck’s snapping across the globe. The track is also one of the more dynamic songs on the album. “Endless Ritual Abuse” and “Abomination” hold their own, but “Breeding Ground” absolutely crushes it with some of the heavier riffage on the album and a solid helping of d-beat mayhem. It’s going to be a fan favorite for sure.

And from then on, we have more of the same (in a good way). Call of the Void let loose with volley after volley of crusty malevolence in the form of bruising riffage and manic drum work. I like the dynamic that the band has throughout their debut, but would also have loved to hear them absolutely go apeshit in the full-on grind attack that they hint at from time to time on Dragged Down a Dead End Path.