Wednesday 9 June 2021

Void Tripper - Dopefiend (Album Review)


Release Date: June 09th 2021. Record Label: Self Released. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Dopefiend - Tracklisting

1.DEVIL'S REJECT 08:07
2.BURNING WOODS 08:16
3.HOLLOW 07:48
4.SATAN AND DRUGS 04:53
5.COMATOSE 07:26


Members

Mário Fonteles - Guitar and Vocals (on “Devil’s Reject”, “Hollow”, “Comatose”)
Anastácio Júnior - Guitar and Vocals (on “Burning Woods”, “Satan and Drugs”)
Gabriel Mota - Drums
Jonatas Monte - Bass


Review

Dopefiend is the debut full length album from Braziian Stoner/Doom Riff Merchants- VOID TRIPPER. The band are not ashamed they’re highly inspired by Black Sabbath and this album is a testament to that with their music built upon the style of music that Black Sabbath originally created. Though, Void Tripper do bring a heavier Stoner Metal and Proto-Doom approach to the album. The record is superbly creepy and FUZZY AS HELL from the very start.

The album contains 5 songs with most of them running past the 7 minutes mark. There is a lot of different variety throughout the album with the band bringing heavier sludgy grooves on the certain stages of the album.

Opening song - Devil’s Reject - is a gritty offering with classic sounding production values right from the pages of 70s Doom Metal that evoke memories of Saint Vitus and Black Sabbath. The song does a stirring Psychedelic energy with Void Tripper using it to their advantage and the song comes more alive when the band move away from that classic Sabbath sound and bring their own style of hard-edge FUZZ-INDUCED Psych Stoner Metal. The music is not necessarily fast-paced but Void Tripper do keep the atmosphere interesting with their own winning style of music.

Second song - Burning Woods - is a gloomier and heavier offering with the band moving effortlessly from 70s Doom Metal to a more vibrant and modern style of Stoner Metal. The band perhaps channel Uncle Acid and Electric Wizard on this song but it’s still a great heavy offering with excellent locals and spiky lyrics set against the great music written for this song. This is one of the more seediest offerings on the record and one of the standout tracks as well.

Void Tripper remain firmly in the “Doom Metal” and “Black Sabbath” camps with the remaining 3 songs on the album. Hollow,”Satan And Drugs” and Comatose allow Void Tripper to further explore their gloomy outlook on life especially on Satan And Drugs and Comatose. The music moves up a gear with Void Tripper playing a fine balance of 70s Doom Metal and modern Stoner Metal with a Progressive flair that allows the album to be quite LOUD in certain places.

If you dig REVERB and FUZZ for your Doom/Stoner Metal palette and a huge dose of OCCULT ROCK surroundings then Dopefiend is here to quench your thirst. Backed along by fantastic production values, Void Tripper’s debut album is an exciting and welcome addition to add to your record collection.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Bruxa Verde for the promo. Dopefiend will be available to buy from BandCamp now. CD/Vinyls will be released at a later date.

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp