If a concept album is based on the universal negativity you can expect a musical tribute to nothing less than total darkness. So after listening to this intensive release by these three bands you are really looking forward to the next sunrise. Due to the playing time of nearly 80 minutes you should listen to the three sections of the release separately otherwise the "darkness" might overrun the listener. "Universal Absence" is the second split CD of the Nihilist concept series, a project which had been launched by the British band LYRINX. They are also inaugurating the record with their three songs which are quality wise exactly what I expected after their great mini-LP "Nihilistic Purity". Traditional Black Metal with a deep BURZUM feeling and even if they are playing by the rules their creations are still offering these special moments. The three songs have a playing time of over 30 minutes and especially the last track ‘Universal Negativity’ with over 12 minutes is a passionate hymn to the given concept. So I’m really looking forward to a complete release by LYRINX. ELYSIAN BLAZE from Australia are no longer connected to their keyboard roots ("Beneath Silent Faces") and left these shores to get completely swallowed by the Funeral Doom tendencies in their music. The presented song ‘Black Hole Euphoria’ reminds me of SAMAEL’s ‘Into The Pentagram’ (original version) just a little bit slower and the song can put a hex on you by repeating the same sections / parts over and over again. In the booklet the only member Mutatiis advised that the songs had been created under ‘extreme bouts of paranoia’ and even if I normally wouldn’t care about such statements – just listen to the song and judge by yourselves. D.O.R from Portugal had been completely unknown to me but their four songs of very Nordic Black Metal are an essential part of the release. The songs need some time to fully catch the ear of the listener and the last song ‘Dreamwalk’ is more an outro than a full song but within their playing time of half an hour the band can show that Black Metal has also conquered South Europe. Again a very good release by Insidious Poisoning who are doing a great job to keep the real underground alive. www.insidious-poisoning.com