Michael Mueller
No other way to put it - this is an absolute BEAST of an album.
It sounds like collaboration between Sepultura circa Roots and Sun Ra and his Arkestra out past Saturn, with all manner of psychedelia and middle eastern madness thrown in, too.
There are vocals – from harmonised female to throat singing - but they are more flourish than feature.
Never heard an album quite like this before, and likely won't unless Bjork records an album in Hades. And I've give my right arm to see it played live.
Favorite track: To The Earth: NGANGA - Grand Guérisseur Magique de l’ère Probocène.
ClassyMusicSnob
Finally there is a repress! Eons is one of the absolute best albums of 2020. The album sways in between jazz influenced metal and metal influenced jazz. The 2.5 hour monstrosity lasts forever, yet once its over, you realize how fast the time had gone by. An absolutely mesmerizing album and one of my personal favorites of all time. 5/5
Favorite track: To The Sun: EÔS - Avènement de l’Éon Evaísthitozoïque Probocène Flamboyant.
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
never been a big death metal fan but this is actually super accessible for the genre, has fun concepts, and personally i'm always a fan of albums with short tracklists and huge runtimes (for individual songs) Great time, good jumping on point for newbies too. alienasu
Oranssi Pazuzu, the gods of psych black prog metal!! Many an act attempts to fuse those elements, and very few do it well. OP are and will continue to be the leaders in this style! Ralph Douglas
The album description mentions an “emotional apex.” That’s really the difference between Stare and the band’s previous albums. Ulcerate was always supremely technically proficient. I just didn’t care all that much. Their growth has come from making music you will feel. Metallurgical Fire
Weedian presents a 56-track chronicle of Mexico's stoner metal and heavy psych scenes, from ’90s forefathers to contemporary wrecking crews. Bandcamp New & Notable Sep 21, 2022
The great Oakland atmospheric black metal band Abstracter returns with a punishing new EP pulled from the depths of hell. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 17, 2021