Emptiness: U Jam?

Remember that scene in the movie Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas: Our heroes’ narco-spiritual search for the essence of American freedom has brought them to a nightmarish circus-themed casino, where they are getting impatient as they await the overdue wallop of the weird drugs they took. In voiceover, the Hunter Thompson character describes the stressful prelude to this particular drug’s onset: First, you spend an hour waiting like a chump; another 30 minutes later, you begin to suspect that the shit is fake cuz still nothing is happening. But just as you’re angrily completing your plans for revenge on the dude who sold you this bullshit … blammo! The shit kicks in and you are on the dark side of Mars.

That same rollercoaster of waiting, disbelief, mistrust, and finally, altered consciousness awaits listeners of Nothing But The Whole, a dreamy, heedless odyssey by Emptiness (full stream here). At first, you’re pumped for this super jam that your brah at MetalSucks tipped you to; next you’re moving gamely through the getting-to-know-you stage of its first minutes; but soon you’re checking your watch and tapping a foot, like, Um, nothing’s happening. (Or rather, only one thing is happening.) Then, just when you’ve decided to dash off an angry tweet to stupid Anso DF for this bullshit tip, you find yourself oddly unready to bail from Nothing But The Whole. Let’s see what happens next, you say to yourself, and next thing you know … Zang! You’re spellbound, plunged into oneiroid psychosis, weightless and disoriented, in no control of your limbs and thoughts. And a fat clown is shouting in your face as your buddy falls over backwards.

Stream a jam below and the full album here. U jam?

Nothing But The Whole by Emptiness is out Tuesday via Dark Descent. Pre-order here.