Seventh Void – Heaven Is Gone

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This debut album from Type O Negative guitarist Kenny Hickey’s second project, along with fellow Type O band-mate Johnny Kelly on drums, was actually released in April 2009 in North America on Pantera drummer Vinnie Paul’s Big Vin Records, but has taken until November 2010 to see a European release via Napalm. Billed as a doom metal band Seventh Void mix a lot of traditional doom elements with the melodic stoner sensibilities of Monster Magnet, and Hickey’s vocals are reminiscent of Hades/Non-Fiction guitarist Dan Lorenzo’s on his solo albums, with a little Chris Cornell mixed in at the higher end. The End of All Time, Death of A Junkie, Slow Descent and Shadow On Me are the only slow tracks with a classic doom plod, the rest are faster but still with the thick guitar tone that is a trademark of doom metal. When tracks like Last Walk In The Light kick off with a fuzzy, bluesy riff and melodic vocals it sounds like pure Monster Magnet, but the rest of the time they occupy similar territory to the likes of Solace and Sabbath-clones sHeavy, combining the heaviness of doom with the faster pace of stoner metal. The songs are discs leading light though, all well composed and musically interesting throughout, none of them linger or retread too much ground. Heaven Is Gone is an accomplished stoner doom release which Hickey’s vocals lend a raw edge to, and the weight of his and Kelly’s names should allow them to get themselves noticed more than this style tends to.

Written by Andy Lye
More: 2010, Albums, Doom Metal, Quick.Play Reviews, Seventh Void