Review by SzejkElRopa on August 17, 2026.

The name Untervoid has recently been recurring in my musical life. Not only was I seeing reviews of that album, but I also got the recommendation from a certain person. Upon seeing that this band hails from Poland, one might think, "yeah, that's some Mgła/Behemoth/Hate ripoff". Fortunately, I didn't think that way, and I got to know that Polish black metal ventures into territories I couldn't have expected. Well, upon hearing the vocals in the first minute of the title track, I'm sure these guys were inspired by Mayhem's Attila. But that's not everything they have to offer.

Black metal, obviously, lies at the core of all these wicked compositions. It is not the straightforward-type black metal you'd know from an average album with tremolos, some melodies, and basically that's all. Furious compositions take turns with slower, more composed, and more malicious-sounding tunes, making the album rich in approaches to the broadly understood extreme music. While "Parasite" opens with a blast-beat-ridden vehement outburst, other tracks do not necessarily follow this manner. Take a look at 'Abyss Gazes Back', which carefully, with a two-guitar melody, builds tension to the point when unsettling clean vocals take over, making the music even more eerie and quite despairful at the same time. 'Downfall Of The Angels', on the other hand, features a headbanging riff and rhythmic riff, which is followed by a slow solo and a dissonant wall of sound. The wall of sound is quite overwhelming, but in a good way - it resonates well with the rebellious lyrics it talks about. Further, the album moves into more apocalyptic tunes. 'Ruiner' is a fast-paced piece filled with aggression, especially taking the chorus into account, due to the vocalist's half-growled shouts and rapid drumming. However, the clean vocals ("Let the trumpets blow...") and a short, for some, irrelevant piece of, I guess, keyboards evoke more and more distress. The emotions reach their peak in 'Last Shore', when keyboards take a dominant role alongside the clean vocals, evoking the feeling of the inevitable catastrophe. Obviously, I could write about every song, because each of them is different from the others and each of them has something valuable to talk about.

Especially noteworthy is the band's willingness to experiment. Here, I speak about the song '23', which features no other instrument than a saxophone. If you happened to listen to this album before, I'm sure you waited for this moment, because by any means I couldn't omit that one exact moment. It appears suddenly, but despite that, it works extremely well with the overall music and doesn't feel forced. I only wish it was used more, not only in one song. Another praise deserves guitar solos, because, unlike in some cases, they never become overmelodic or put in the wrong place, which is extremely hard given the fact that it's not a happy-go-lucky piece of music, where everything works fine. The riffs and melodies aren't the ones that are easily memorable; rather, they are used to build the atmosphere. Nevertheless, they aren't easily forgettable either. It's the kind of music that needed to grow on me and needed many listens to appreciate the full composition fully. The vocalist's work never gets tedious; the same goes for the drums. They do not disappoint and are proportionally varied according to the speed of the music. Also, the bass isn't forgotten and can be heard many times, which is yet another plus of the album. Lastly, the lyrics have a very interesting concept, because the titular "Parasite" is nothing other than us - humans, who, quoting the lyrics, "We crawled to the surface like a swarm / Infecting the planet with our emptiness and illusions". This explains the multitude of emotions presented on this album. On a side note, the lyrics are quite thought-provoking, and I encourage you to read them. Fortunately (for some), they are in English.

I will repeat myself - this is not your typical black metal album. It doesn't play in the style everybody would expect, nor does it try to impress everyone with cheap tricks. This is something of an oddity, yet created so well that it impressed me how many things can be packed in only forty minutes. For now, I give it 8.9/10. At first, I need to admit, I was quite confused and didn't know what was going on, but with time, it managed to catch my attention. Parasites work insidiously, so who knows - maybe with time it will grow even more, and the score might eventually change.

Rating: 8.9 out of 10