Nine years. This is how long this offspring of mine – THE VOID, is travelling across the globe in order to spread the infernal flames of the dark Arts. There were a lot of chapters in its development, with many ups, downs, lots of ideas  and thousands of stories to tell. I was never the person who would agree to be trapped in a box, so I always dared to change or create something new, to help this place grow to new heights. And it did grow. Enormously. Living now a life by itself, beyond time and beyond my existence.

When the moment to look back came few moments earlier,  to remember the beginning… I was stunned. The path I walked with THE VOID is truly honorable and beautiful one, even if it wasn’t without the thorns. It all began in an  almost ritualistic way. The choice of the name that presented itself to me one night, the first article, the logo. The idea was clear to me in the mere beginning, there was never a second guess about it – I wanted to create a space where I can spread as much quality black metal  as possible and write about the albums I find most mesmerizing , as I used to do back in school – a beautiful return to my essence.  I didn’t care about anything back then, I just wanted to write – it was an urge I couldn’t control much. I had to. I was called to. I was meant to. There was no other choice. So I wrote, and wrote, and wrote… with deep passion and devotion… I wrote more than 11 000 articles, special columns and chronicles to this point…without giving up the initial  idea for IX years and counting, without losing the spark and that same urge to write.

There were moments where the stigma was too overwhelming – authenticity is too frightening to some; there were  weeks  from previous years when  my physical health declined, so I actually wrote some of the articles from a hospital bed before or after treatments/surgeries; where I had personal tragedies happening behind the scenes – I’ve wrote some articles right before or after the funerals of people I love; there were also moments where I barely had the time to manage the website because of the huge workload (I’ve worked several jobs at once at one point); there were also many moments in time where some  insecure people who didn’t get the whole point  decided to throw shade at THE VOID because of their own bruised ego, envy and lack of personal development ; and many other obstacles along the way. So it wasn’t always easy – but  I used none of the situations above as an excuse to stop or do it half-heartedly. It was always precious like a knowledge from the innermost abyss of Hell to me.

Thanks to THE VOID, and thanks to you – and I mean, all of you who stop here to enjoy the Arts, I’ve managed to develop the space I’d always hoped would one day exist – a place devoted to the  ideology, the culture and the  music genre I’ve sincerely fell inlove with so long ago and feel are most connected to who I am.  Suddenly, what I was very much hated for in the beginning of the new century in my small hometown – the reason I received nicknames as “the satanist” or “the witch”, among others – the reason my “demonic” paintings were demolished and my tapes often suddenly “went missing” – it is all now the reason thousands of people gather around THE VOID like a legion, drawn  like a moth to the flame.

And for me, this is huge. A sacred  feeling I will remember until the rest of my life. I appreciate your energy and adore the view of  so many authentic people who find  black metal fascinating  these days and look for more. I am thankful for all the precious music and I hope to have another great year with you, spreading blasphemies and total devotion to the Arts. Keep the black flame alive and please, never resist that urge to create if you are called to!

Remember what lies within: THE VOID  is the Beginning and the End. It is  Everything and Nothing. Our  natural essence includes precisely this cosmic void, the purity, the primalness, the stillness, the omnipresent energy. It is in the silence, it is in the screaming voices of the underground, it is within the threads of your  mind, it is within the melody of your own beating heart.

– Paula

Some statistics, if you are a curious ghoul and like such stuff (:)

MOST VISITED PAGES IN MMXXV:
New Albums  –  10 998 999 times
Whispers – 9 849 893 times
Greek Horde – 6 974 484 times
Bulgarian Horde – 4 000 000 times
Serbian Horde –  3 898 909 times
Croatian Horde –  3 896 983 times
Chronicles –  3 789 989 times
Book Relics – 2 098 223 times

THE MATERIALS YOU’VE READ THE MOST IN MMXXV:
1. THE VOID presents VAGABOND and their debut ritual, “Baptism in the Morning Darkness”
2. GORGOROTH’s 33 Year Anniversary Tour arrives at Ljubljana in March
3.DRUDKH : “Shadow Play”
4.PURITAN BONE : “Ecstasy on the Frontier of Blood”
5.TIME MACHINE: MAY RESULT
6.EOSPHOROS CULT II is out now!
7.BLUT AUS NORD unveil their latest offering, “Ethereal Horizons”, in its entirety
8.THE MOST FASCINATING WORKS OF ART OF MMXXV
9.IMPERIAL CRYSTALLINE ENTOMBMENT unveil their new ritual, “Abominable Astral Summoning”
10.Echoes of SARKE: A Conversation with Thomas ‘Sarke’ Berglie

WHERE WAS THE VOID  READ THE MOST IN MMXXV?
United States, Germany, Bulgaria, Turkey, United Kingdom, Croatia, Serbia, Sweden, France, Brazil, Netherlands, Finland, Portugal, Poland, Norway, Greece, Italy, Canada, Spain, Ireland, Mexico, Ukraine, Australia, Belgium, Switzerland,Romania, Chile, Austria, Denmark, Czech Republic, Argentina, Japan, Hungary, India , Slovakia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, New Zealand, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Estonia, Indonesia, Philippines, Luthuania, Moldova, South Korea, Iceland , Peru, Latvia, Cyprus, Luxembourg , Georgia, United Arab Emirates, Venezuela, Nepal , Puerto Rico, North Macedonia, Albania, Trinidad and Tobago, Uzbekistan , Lebanon, Kyrgyzstan, Egypt, Tunisia, Cuba, Liechtenstein, El Salvador, Isle of Man.

END OF TRANSMISSION.