VOIDMAKER
A transmission from a collapsing future — rogue AIs, ancient extraterrestrials, and ten tracks of blackened thrash precision built to soundtrack the end of humanity.
Some debut albums arrive. A Cold, Unyielding Universe detonates. VOIDMAKER — the Boston/Washington D.C. sci-fi thrash death metal project built by guitarist Joe McAnaney and vocalist Tom McRann — drops their first full-length on May 25 via Witches Brew Records, and it is not interested in easing anyone in gently.
Ten tracks. A narrative arc spanning rogue artificial intelligence, unstable Jovian scientists, and ancient extraterrestrial entities lurking in the void. Razor-sharp riffs engineered to feel like hull breach warnings. This is concept album territory executed with the kind of focus that most bands never find on a debut.
A sound that is both dangerous and intelligent, engineered for those who seek music that resonates with the weight of the universe.
— VOIDMAKERThe Album and What It’s After
VOIDMAKER operates in a specific and increasingly crowded space — extreme metal with conceptual ambition — but A Cold, Unyielding Universe earns its place in that conversation. The record blends blackened thrash with death metal precision and a progressive edge that keeps the ten-track runtime from ever feeling like a straight-line assault. There’s architecture here. The kind that suggests McAnaney and McRann built this thing with a blueprint, not just an amp and a grudge.
Thematically, the album charts a grim future: rogue AIs making decisions humanity didn’t authorize, scientists conducting questionable experiments in the outer solar system, and something older and worse waiting further out. It’s the kind of sci-fi framework that works best when the music actually sounds like the thing it’s describing — cold, vast, indifferent, and occasionally violent. From what the press materials suggest, A Cold, Unyielding Universe delivers on that promise.
The album features cover art by Adam Burke of Nightjar Illustrations — a name well known in extreme metal circles for imagery that looks like it was pulled directly from a bad dream about deep space. Mixed and mastered by Rob Kukla at Obsidian Studios, the production is built to handle the full weight of what the band is attempting.
An instrumental piece titled Starfall, contributed by Sarah McAnaney-Knight, is the kind of detail that separates a concept album from a collection of heavy songs — it signals that the narrative actually matters to these people.
— Exposed VocalsWho Built This and How
VOIDMAKER is fundamentally the work of two people. Joe McAnaney handles guitars, drums, and bass — the full sonic architecture of the record, built from the ground up. Tom McRann delivers the vocal brutality that ties the narrative together. That kind of tight two-person creative unit tends to produce either focused, cohesive albums or disasters. This appears to be the former.
The addition of an instrumental track, Starfall, contributed by Sarah McAnaney-Knight, is worth noting. Instrumental pieces in concept albums are connective tissue — they give the story room to breathe and signal that the people making the record take the narrative seriously enough to step back from the vocals when the music needs space. It’s a deliberate choice, and deliberate choices on debut albums are a good sign.
The band draws from a lineage that includes Behemoth, Decapitated, and Gojira — three acts that share a commitment to extreme metal with intellectual and thematic weight. VOIDMAKER isn’t chasing those bands. They’re working in the same tradition of metal that believes heaviness and intelligence aren’t in conflict.
In a genre where concept albums are common and good concept albums are rare, VOIDMAKER have built something that sounds like it actually believes in its own story.
— Exposed VocalsWhy This Is Worth Your Time
The independent extreme metal scene doesn’t lack for ambitious debuts. What it lacks is debuts that land with the production quality, thematic coherence, and technical execution to back up the ambition. From the evidence available — the press materials, the label, the collaborators — A Cold, Unyielding Universe appears to be the real thing.
Witches Brew Records has a track record of putting out extreme metal that doesn’t cut corners. Adam Burke’s cover art signals that someone cared enough about the visual component to hire one of the best in the business. Rob Kukla’s production work at Obsidian Studios is built for exactly this kind of record. The infrastructure around this album is as serious as the music it’s serving.
VOIDMAKER arrives May 25. If you’ve been waiting for a debut that sounds like it was made by people who have thought very carefully about what a record is supposed to do — this one is worth the wait.
A Cold, Unyielding Universe by VOIDMAKER is out May 25, 2026 via Witches Brew Records. Follow the band on Facebook, Instagram, and Bandcamp.
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