The Spanish trio Empty where formed way back in 1995, but only released their first album Eternal Cycle Of Decay in the year 2000. The band characterizes its style as negative/ pessimistic black metal. So far the band has released six full-length albums, the last of which will be presented in this review. Judging by the photos of the band attached to the album- it’s a trio of individuals who hide their faces under white masks. It is also worth noting that the guest keyboard player on this album is MR.J.M. from gothic band Ataraxy

The album called Vacio is due for release at the end of September on the famous French metal label Osmose Productions in the form of CD and LP. At the moment, you can place a pre-order on the website of the label or on its Bandcamp page.

The cover of the album is a photo of an ancient stone staircase running along a stone wall in the shade of some trees. The photo  black and white style, but processed so there’s a disctive blue and beige tinge. In the upper left corner of the cover is the bands logo, which is fairly typical black metal style. The letters M, P and T form a kind of horned head. In the lower right corner is the title of the album "Vacio", made in a blurry handwritten font. I  sadly  felt that this  cover seemed rather unoriginal & indistictive . Many collectives have already used similar motifs/ lay-outs, with a strong Gothic influence. It just seemed a  little ascetic and amateurish for a release  on a label such as Osmose Productions.

The album, with a total length of just over forty-seven minutes, consisting of eight tracks, the last of which is a cover version of the song of gothic collective Arkana. Apparently the  album is based on "La Lluvia Amarilla" (The Yellow Rain). a book by Julio Llamazares.  Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with this work, but after listening to the album, I seriously considering to reading the book.

So, the musical component of the album is absolutely conceptual, all the tracks are performed in one style. For me, the boundary between the tracks are so blurred that I will write about my general impressions of the album as a whole.

Empty sit firmly  atmospheric black metal bracket, with a sound bringing to mind early Emperor, Arcturus, and Borknagar. Perhaps with a little touch of Ved Buens Ende. But, that’s not say Empty’s sound is purely coping these other bands. As these Spaniards have brought many of their twists  & touches to the sound, however, it does very much sit within the framework of classic atmospheric black metal.

Highly tuned guitars play typical tremolo. The melodies are pretty simple, but they are mesmerizing and, together with Lo-fi keyboards, create a unique atmosphere. The sound of the bass guitar is so lightweight, sometimes it's even hard to recognize. But when high-speed passages are replaced by avant-garde riffs or acoustic passages, we can hear a very interesting techniques  of the bass player. Guitar solos mostly played in the spirit of Spanish flamenco, which gives a special charm to the whole album. Also, acoustic guitar solos sound very well against the background of squealing black metal guitars. Keyboard parts very organically support the guitar sound, not pretending to be the main instrument. The sound on the album is made quite raw, which, strangely enough, also creates the same, almost forgotten atmosphere of the mid-90s, the period of the reign of atmospheric black metal on the world metal scene. Despite the general raw sound, the drum kit sounds quite clear. It is worth noting the sound balance - we can hear every instrument, there is no sound chaos, despite the raw sound.

Separately I need to mention the vocals. As the range of the vocalist (or vocalists) is quite wide. We go from growling, screaming, whispers, pure choral singing, onto anxious recitative in the style of Anna-Varney Cantodea from Sopor Aeternus & The Ensemble Of Shadows. Very often all these different types of vocals appear together. Again, returning to the sound balance - the vocals perfectly integrate into the general sound, becoming an important part of the atmosphere.

As I said, Empty positions its style as negative pessimistic black metal. Perhaps this is reflected in the texts of the collective, but in music, I did not hear it. This is extremely atmospheric, moderately aggressive raw black metal with a slight touches of the  gothic and avant-garde, close to progressive black metal, due to the complicated compositional nature of the tracks.

I listened to this album three times in a row, as I wanted to hear it again and again. I think that Vacio will be appreciated not only by fans of progressive black metal but also by supporters of true/ classic atmospheric BM. This is a very strong and thoughtful album with a unique atmosphere and sound. But for me there is one drawback – the album cover , which, in my opinion, is not true illustration of the musical component. But maybe I'm just trying to find the fault.