Ippocalyptica
I, Voidhanger is already one of most avant-garde labels in metal, and Éons is undoubtedly the most avant-garde album in their stable. There is a lot happening here at all times, and it is coming from several different genres, with metal, drone, ambient, free-jazz, and psychedelic rock all being well-represented, but combined in outrageous ways. Neptunian Maximalism makes it all sound organic and spontaneous, even though it is evident how much care and detail went into this work. Stunning!
Belgium's NEPTUNIAN MAXIMALISM (aka NNMM) is a community of “cultural engineers” with a variable line-up, mixing drone metal with spiritual free jazz and psychedelic music. The project was initiated in 2018 by multi-instrumentalist Guillaume Cazalet (Czlt, Jenny Torse, Aksu), who brought together veteran saxophonist Jean Jacques Duerinckx (Ze Zorgs) and two drummers, Sebastien Schmit (K-Branding) and Pierre Arese (Aksu). In 2020, Stephane FDL and Lukas Bouchenot took the drums. Reshma Goolamy (bass), Romain Martini (guitar), Alice Thiel (synths, guitar), Joaquin Bermudez (saz, setar), Didié Nietzche (soundscapes) and Leslie V. (black magic scenography) joined in 2019, thus changing the band into a real drone orchestra.
By exploring the evolution of the human species, NEPTUNIAN MAXMALISM question the future of the living on Earth, propitiating a feeling of acceptance for the conclusion of the so called "anthropocene" era and preparing us for the incoming “probocene” era, imagining our planet ruled by superior intelligent elephants after the end of humanity. As Guillaume Cazalet explains, “for certain scientists, if we hadn't rule the Earth, elephants were supposed to be at the top of the pyramid of terrestrial life.”
The ambitious album trilogy of “Éons” is a musical experience of gargantuan proportions where each chapter is part of a fascinating ritual, a cosmic mass of light and darkness recalling the works of SUNN O))), EARTH, ALUK TODOLO, ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE, SWANS, MOTORPSYCHO, SUN RA and the late JOHN COLTRANE.
The intoxicating bacchanal starts with “To The Earth (Aker Hu Benben)”, a heavy tribal music affair influenced by stoner metal, noise rock and free jazz. “It's a balance between sacred and profane, and resumes lots of human feelings or their consequences, such as love, war, hate, ritual dance, transmutation, strength, feminine/masculine juxtaposition, etc,”, says Cazalet.
With “To The Moon (Heka Khaibit Sekhem)” the band opts for a slightly different approach, surrealistic yet brutal, occasionally steering towards black-doom metal. Cazalet: “Here the rhythm section plays an important role, fueled by an obscure power that plunges the listener into a magic, occult trance; this album is characterized by shamanic invocations and summonings of the ancients by using animal-like growls and the homo-sapiens' proto-language as reconstructed by Pierre Lanchantin, an English researcher/archeologist from the University of Cambridge.”
The third and final chapter encompasses the interstellar meditations of “To The Sun (Ânkh Maât Sia)”, described by Cazalet as a solar drone opera: “We worked on the power of frequencies and tonality, chthonian deep vibrations and iridescent high lights by using huge amplified baritone sax and guitars, spectral soundscapes, antic cinematographic views and tribal percussions.”
Wrapped in a phantasmagoric painting by Japanese master Kaneko Tomiyuki, NEPTUNIAN MAXIMALISM's “Éons” is with no doubt the quintessential mystical and psychedelic journey of 2020.
credits
released June 26, 2020
"Éons" line-up:
Guillaume Cazalet (Czlt) ::: Amplified bass and barytone guitar, bow, sitar, flute, trumpet & vocals
Jean Jacques Duerinckx ::: Amplified saxophone barytone and sopranino
Sebastien Schmit ::: Drums, percussions, gongs, vocals
Pierre Arese ::: Drums, percussions
Recorded by Guillaume Cazalet, with the help of Jean Jacques Duerinckx at HS63, Brussels, March 2018. Mixed and mastered by Guillaume Cazalet at Homo Sensibilis Sounds studio, Brussels, June 2018
My gosh - every single note and breakdown here is absolutely exquisite, along with every idea and lyric too. As amazing as their logo is illegible paul_bur
Puedo ver claramente esa enorme luna llena en ese cielo estrellado, mientras las numerosas ramas de los enormes árboles se entrelazan entre sí. Huyendo en medio de semejante bosque de la numerosa secta de brujos que me acechan frenéticamente con sus inhumanas bestias lovecraftianas, para transformarme en su siguiente sacrificio humano. En el denso y oscuro laberinto, el estrellado cielo y esa enorme y brillante moneda de plata son mi única guía para escapar de ser la siguiente águila de sa Blame Hofmann
A foreboding black-doom metal dirge, meditating on a dark world caked in ash, resulting from all the Earth’s nuclear arsenal detonating at once. Bandcamp Album of the Day Jun 14, 2018
This is powerful and evocative stuff; the interplay of harrowing pathos and light.
At times, it sounds like Kate Bush in an oil drum full of nails rolling down a hill, at others it is transcendent. Like seeing the beauty of cathedral ornament, while feeling the cold dead stone of the structure. Paul
