Into the dark. The Void is Beardfish’s 2012 album: the Swedish band’s heaviest, darkest and most complex record, and a bold departure from their warm retro roots.

The short version

The 2012 album by Swedish progressive rock band Beardfish, released on InsideOut Music, and their seventh studio release. Their heaviest and most ambitious record, it trades some of their vintage Hammond warmth for dirtier guitars, denser arrangements and a darker, more aggressive edge — without ever becoming a straight metal album. Eclectic as ever, it moves from crushing riffs to pastoral, jazzy and psychedelic passages, all wrapped in a bold, adventurous sound. Challenging and rewarding, it stands as one of the most striking entries in the band’s catalogue.

A darker turn

By 2012, Beardfish had spent over a decade as one of Sweden’s most inventive prog bands, led by the multi-talented Rikard Sjöblom. The Void, their seventh album, found them pushing hard against expectations. Where earlier records glowed with warm organ and retro charm, this one is dirtier, heavier and more complex — the sound of a band determined to keep evolving. Performed by their classic line-up — Rikard Sjöblom, guitarist David Zackrisson, bassist Robert Hansen and drummer Magnus Ostgren — and opening with a spoken-word introduction from Andy Tillison of The Tangent, it is Beardfish at their most daring.

The sound

The Void is dark, hard-edged eclectic prog, comfortably the heaviest album Beardfish ever made. Grinding, dirtier guitars and denser, more complex arrangements dominate the first half, with even the occasional burst of guttural, metal-style growls, yet the band never abandon their range — pastoral acoustic passages, jazzy interludes and classically-tinged writing all find their place. You can hear echoes of early-1970s heavy prog in its DNA, from Deep Purple to Atomic Rooster, filtered through Beardfish’s own restless imagination. Ominous, ambitious and richly detailed, it is a bold reinvention that still sounds unmistakably like them.

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The songs

The pounding ‘Voluntary Slavery’ opens the album proper with some of the heaviest playing the band ever committed to tape, a captivating statement of intent. ‘They Whisper’ strikes a perfect balance between muscular riffs and eclectic prog, a fan favourite, while the instrumental ‘Seventeen Again’ offers a warmer, more familiar side of the band. At the album’s heart sits its sprawling fifteen-minute title suite, a four-part epic that shows just how far Beardfish were willing to stretch.

Reception and legacy

The Void divided some fans with its heavier, darker direction but won wide praise for its ambition and craft, with several reviewers calling it among the band’s very best. Admirers welcomed the grit and complexity as a bold, successful evolution, even as others missed the warmth of earlier albums. Its harder edge fed directly into the band’s next record, +4626-Comfortzone, which nodded back to it. Today The Void is regarded as a fascinating, fearless entry in a catalogue full of reinvention — proof that Beardfish never stood still.

The verdict

The Void is Beardfish at their boldest and heaviest: dark, complex, richly detailed prog that pushes hard at the edges of their sound. Come for the crushing ‘Voluntary Slavery’ and the superb ‘They Whisper.’ Alongside Mammoth and the later +4626-Comfortzone, it shows the remarkable range of one of modern Sweden’s finest prog bands — essential listening for anyone who likes their prog adventurous, eclectic and unafraid to go dark.

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