This full-length album is certainly peculiar in that all its lyrics are written in Biblical Hebrew and Koine Greek (i.e. Biblical Greek). Make no mistake, this is not an "unblack metal" release or anything like that. Check the lyrics if you must. It was largely inspired by a recent literary endeavour in which I read all of the New Testament and the Hebrew Bible, using the excellent Oxford Annotated Bible.

The ordeal lasted for some four months. Since I have a keen interest in foreign languages I did not only read the English translations but also the Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic sources every now and then. I was constantly making notes which I later reassembled and slightly modified to write the lyrics for this release. Greek was easier in that regard. I faced more problems when I was dealing with Hebrew grammar.

You might wonder why a devout atheist like myself would even bother to read the Bible. The answer is quite simple, really. It is a collection of texts that is widely referenced in western literature and being familiar with it makes the odd Bible reference easier to digest. It can definitely add to one's reading experience of all kinds of books. Well, atheists tend to outperform Christians on the subject of scriptural knowledge, although I very much doubt that that is the case with orthodox Jews. Reading the Bible also added to my understanding of early Temple Judaism and early Christianity, from which both Rabbinic Judaism and modern Christianity are quite distant by now.

I was particularly impressed by Job and Ecclesiastes. These two books are actually considered early examples of Jewish existentialism, which I did not know at the time. Their theology is very different from that of the other books. One might even say that theirs is rather bleak in comparison. The authors portray humanity as the subject of a cryptic God who rewards the wicked and punishes the faithful. The laws he gave man are ultimately meaningless because he does not care whether one chooses to obey or ignore them. We are born into an equally meaningless world, stuck in an endless cycle of birth, suffering and death. We seek distraction in the pursuit of vain things such as wealth and social status, all of which are but a breath; that is, temporary and ultimately worthless.

This figurative usage of the Hebrew term for breath or vapour, which is hevel or havel, also inspired the title of this album. Ἕβελ is an Ancient Greek transliteration of the aforementioned hevel. It appeals to me because it references both the Hebrew segment (tracks 1 to 4) and the Greek segment (tracks 5 to 8). These two segments represent the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, respectively.

The Greek tracks were actually recorded before I even considered trying my hand at Hebrew. Οὐθέν εἰμι is the first Voidcraeft track without any blast beat. An acquaintance of mine challenged me to make one and so I did. However, I cannot stand it. It is rather repetitive and lacks compelling riffs. I also struggled with Semitic phonology in the Hebrew tracks. My apologies. The pronunciation of the pharyngeals is poor but I guess only a native speaker of Arabic might mind.

The Hebrew tracks feature some novel speed changes, ranging from 173 BPM to 223 BPM. This is something you rarely see in black metal, especially because reproducing it live is very difficult. Switching to playing triplets is simple in comparison to increasing the speed by, say, precisely 8 to 26 BPM. Only few drummers are comfortable with this. I, for one, certainly am not.

I also read Søren Kierkegaard ("Fear and Trembling", Sigmund Freud ("Zur Psychopathologie des Alltagslebens", pseudo-scientific garbage), Thomas Ligotti ("Grimscribe", "Noctuary", William Barrett ("Death of the Soul", "The Illusion of Technique" and William James ("The Varieties of Religious Experience", supposedly one of Wittgenstein's favourite books) while I was reading the Bible. The endless cycle of ethnic warfare and reinterpretation of history in a theological context might have driven me insane otherwise. Currently, I am reading the puzzling "Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften" ("The Man Without Qualities" by Austro-Hungarian author Robert Musil. I am also trying to get my hands on another book about the legendary Emil Cioran.

Just a couple of days ago I was listening to some older material of mine, the stuff with the microtonal tunings, and I was thinking to myself, "there is greater merit to this than anything you have recently made". Overall, I am only moderately pleased with the way this album turned out, despite the catchy lyrics. I am uncertain as to where I will go from here.