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This is the first time I hear about this Spanish band simply called Empty, but apparently, they are one of the oldest Black Metal band hailing from that country. I wish I could get a hold of their back catalogue! Formed in 1995 by Maligner and B.Sanety, the guys came up with a demo in 2000 (Eternal Cycle of Decay), before their official debut A Source of Hollow Essencein 2001.

One thing I really appreciate in underground music is the atmosphere. This is very often found in Black Metal and in Doom Metal. I prefer the first genre myself, where a wide array of darkened emotional patterns make a strong impression on me, compared to the simply head banging/brutal style of the more mainstream metal. The atmosphere on The Last Breath of My Mortal Despair is as incredible as one is entitled to expect from an album with such a great title. Empty's take on Black Metal not only offers the generic furious/blast beat movements, but often relays on moderate and crushing tempos as well as calmer, more melodic moments. The superb guitar work varies from clean arpeggios to tremolo picking and distorted riffs, not to forget some nicely crushing arpeggios and leads too. I could decipher a bit of discrete and appropriate keyboards here and there, only increasing the atmospheric level. Very sick/wicked rasps and growls with occasional ghostly "choirs" are desperately singing their hymns of mortal despair. This music was given a very good sound production without being over produced, and one can even enjoy decipherable bass lines. Only great music to be heard on this superb album. My favorites are "The Horrible Drawing Back of the Veil", "The Spectral Paleness of the Skin", and "Mortuary Tune of the Prisoner's Anguish".

Empty is an outstanding band bound to please the connoisseurs of fine dark arts.