ninehertz

Void Sinker is a solo project, one person from Salerno in Italy with a deep understanding and obvious reverence to the altar of doom. To follow them is to be greeted to new music on a regular basis - Creatures is their fifth in 2025, a remarkable feat of creativity. It also demonstrates an upward curve, this being the best they’ve offered to date.

There are gargantuan tracks here, both well over twenty minutes a piece, the album an ode to the vast abyss of the great seas and the creatures that are hidden within, evident both in the artwork and the title of the opening offering, Kraken. Despite its immense length, it wastes no time in descending immediately into a darkly stomping doom riff. They’re quite open in naming Conan as a direct influence for the track and it is clearly evident early on, reminiscent too of Bongripper at times, perhaps inevitably for long-song instrumental, riff-centric doom.

It is an exhaustive listen – any thoughts of peaks and valleys, light and dark as you find in similar drawn out song lengths are dismissed as it ploughs forward relentlessly. The lack of fat makes for a pummelling listen and you need to remind yourself to breathe as the walls close in for an age at a time, the band creating intentional depravation hallucinations through lack of light and space. Only near its end does it take a step back, as if exhausted and given up in being chased by its titular monster.

Naga is even longer. This one is dedicated to Conan’s spiritual brothers Slomatics. It begins cumbersomely, working up the energy required to reach its gears, so overburdened by the thick doom tone guitars. It practically lapses into Khanate realms in the struggle. When it finds its groove, there’s a metronome riff that is dingy and addictive.

It is certainly Void Sinker at their best, so far. The humble nods to two greats of the genre are nice to read, although Void Sinker can now start to move out of their shadow and be a force on their own.