Fun fact, this is the 1000th post on this blogpsot! That's a lot of music, time well spent but time that has flown by fast. It also feels fitting this numerical milestone would land on the shoulders of a band with a personal origin story for me. Before the streaming and easy discovery days of the Internet, I stumbled across the German band Aeons Confer's website in a pursuit of music similar to Dimmu Borgir. It was their The Soul Of The Universe record that became this unheard of gem, a relic among my friendship group, yet probably reached a minute amount of ears globally. Out of the blue a decade later they return from silence with the almighty debut full length, Symphonies Of Saturnus, one that's grown on me as I frequent it to this day.
Another six years roll by and now we have the groups sophomore record, one that retains their spirit yet advances the Symphonic aesthetic into the edges of a bleak icy cosmic abyss of space that clearly inspires their music on many levels. Embracing a meatier approach to the rhythm section, deep tonal guitars, almost Djent in nature, chug and stomp along tightly between the battering drum kit that sounds slick and brutal. Its synths are steered into more electronic synthetic tones, the sort you might hear in Trance or Aggro-Tech. They play a subtle roll in building the unforgiving cosmic atmosphere, often in bursts of tonality, looking for texture rather than melody. Every song holds together this vibe for a very consistent listening experience.
Its tight performance and cold nature borders on Industrial at times as the meat of the music churns away with a unending mechanical precision. These songs progress and unfold with acute, timely variations of unrelenting intensities. Distortion guitars often deploy sterile grooves, sparing melody for outbreaks of respite and relief. The clean vocals resonate in these moments, giving glimpses of color from the otherwise mechanical pallet. Its cosmic theming is held together throughout, its constant arrivals of angered guttural shouts and shrill screams reinforce the nebula. It can further be felt again with a closer inspection of the lyric sheet.
With many short and brief sentences, the wording marvels in the forces of the universe. Smart and technical language conjures visions on a colossal scale as planets and spacial phenomena become the play things for story telling with a vast sense of epic proportion. Its vocabulary is dense and a great fit for the overall feel. After a fair few listens Zero Elysium started to strike me as a deep record, the sort that keeps giving the more you get to know. Initially its starkness had me feeling It may not be all that but stick with it and you'll find quite the inter galactic experience awaits!
Rating: 7/10