Whispering Void, a collective of four renowned musicians from the West of Norway, have signed a multi-album deal with Prophecy Productions.
Whispering Void are guitarist Ronny “Valgard” Stavestrand, the two vocalists Lindy-Fay Hella and Kristian “Gaahl” Eivind Espedal, and multi-instrumentalist Iver Sandøy, who are active and former members of such leading acts as ENSLAVED, GAAHLS WYRD, TRELLDOM, and WARDRUNA (in alphabetical order) among many others.
Whispering Void will release their debut full-length via the label this year. Whispering Void comment: “Kristian Espedal presented some of our material to Metal Hammer author Gunnar Sauermann, and he felt that our music was an excellent fit with Prophecy Productions”, guitarist Ronny Stavestrand writes. “When creating music, it is crucial for us while making our music, that we have full artistic freedom and trust. We are confident that Prophecy will provide this.”
Prophecy Productions state: “It does not happen too often that two members of my staff fall over themselves to tell me of a new band”, the label’s founder Martin Koller declares. “When I got to listen to Whispering Void, I immediately knew why they were so utterly thrilled as I felt the same. We are most excited to welcome Whispering Void to our roster and will do our best to let the world hear the album as soon as possible.”
Whispering Void are the outcome of a collaboration that united four renowned musicians with different stylistic backgrounds from the West coast of Norway. They have bonded over a shared love of exploring a wide range of musical influences.
The Norwegian metal scene has been highly productive ever since the so-called second wave of black metal began its triumphant victory march around the globe in the early nineties. Over the following decades, this groundbreaking genre saw several bands rising from underground obscurity to headlining positions at festivals.
In the long and wide shadow of black metal many musicians also successfully explored other sonic dimensions with Nordic folk instigators WARDRUNA among the leading acts with deep roots that reach into the harsh genre.
The creative spark that lit the fire of Whispering Void burning came from a long time of creating new music by Ronny Stavestrand. The guitarist had shared many years in the legendary underground black metal act TRELLDOM with outstanding vocalist Kristian “Gaahl” Espedal, who rose to fame with GORGOROTH and has meanwhile also established GAAHLS WYRD as a channel for his creativity. Therefore it was only natural that Stavestrand asked Espedal to contribute to Whispering Void – to which the latter chose to agree.
While exploring new musical territories together, the need for a female voice arose. Having been part of WARDRUNA in the early years, Espedal was fast to note that vocal powerhouse Lindy-Fay Hella with her characteristic voice and unique contributions that she has also shared in her own projects was the perfect match for Whispering Void. Hella was duly invited and luckily heeded the call.
The quartet was completed by Iver Sandøy on battery and bass, who had put his impeccable musical sensitivity and timing into the service of ENSLAVED some years back but already made himself a name with EMMERHOFF & THE MELANCHOLY BABIES.
Intuition, openness, and a sense of musical communion shaped music and lyrics in an organic and free-spirited studio process. The result of their collective musings and interchanges is a unique mixture of the various influences that the the band members represent. There are elements of ambient, dark and nordic folk, psychedelic prog, rock, and many more ingredients in the unique music created by Whispering Void, which due to lack of an easy description needs to be experienced by each listener individually.
After taking their own time to find the right partner for their songs, the thrilling result of this impressive gathering of artistic minds will be released later this year as the debut album of Whispering Void.
Whispering Void line-up: Ronny Stavestrand – guitars / Lindy-Fay Hella – vocals / Kristian Eivind Espedal – vocals / Iver Sandøy – drums & percussion, bass, guitar, keyboards
