Weird music kind of makes me sad now because literally nothing shocks or surprises me. I mean just this past week I discovered Hammer Of Dawn a Death Metal supergroup inspired by the Gears Of War universe. Now you might think that’s not that odd but it’s a gimmick and I wasn’t like ‘wow, so different’ more like ‘just another day on Bandcamp’. Perhaps I’m just getting old and grouchy, I don’t know, anyway why am I talking about musical strangeness? Neptunian Maximalism that’s why!

So who the hell are Neptunian Maximalism? Yeah, I’d never heard of them either. Well, they are a band who (and I quote) ‘try to create a sense of acceptance of the end of the “Anthropocene” era through a musical and soteriological experience.’ I mean that’s a pretty cool conceptual idea but isn’t this just more Drone boredom? Well, the band put out the huge triple album Éons last year and claim to be a sort of strange collective of Free Jazz, Drone, and all sorts of other mad stuff. I’m game for this kind of thing as I really enjoy the likes of Sunn O))) and Boris, especially live. Speaking of live the album we’re looking at today is Solar Drone Ceremony which is an almost hour-long performance by the band put out through I, Voidhanger Records, is it good though?

I’m pretty into long songs, Cryptic Shift’s Moonbelt Immolator or Bell Witch’s titanic Mirrior Reaper come to mind. Now we have Neptunian Maximalism’s Solar Drone Ceremony (awesome title). The album (song) begins with ambient Drone soundscapes, peaceful and full of mysticism. It eventually twists into something more haunting, creepy and unbecoming. Sci-fi, yet rooted in ancient magical energy. Truly it can only be described as bizarre, I cannot tell what instruments are being used at all if any at this point, odd is certainly the word. An almost Free Form Jazz level of melody is eventually found, with what I assume to be trumpets and the occasional guitar flourish. It’s wild, psychedelic and pretty ‘far out man’. When the drums come in it all gets a bit more metallic and overall the Prog nature starts to filter through. The chanting vocals are also an awesome addition, it’s very occult. I can totally imagine seeing this live with bucket loads of dry ice and incense, basically a Sunn O))) show.

As more instruments are layered on top of one another, including some mighty keyboards, it becomes a hypnotic mess. A very good mess but perhaps not something for everyone. Put it this way it isn’t music to put on at your local Metal club night, this is music for nerds sitting alone in their rooms (which is fine by me). The album weaves into something Doom-like and almost melancholic, epic is certainly a term that I would use. Towards the end there is a definite Space Rock/ Hawkwind tone, I really dig that kind of thing too and it lends itself well to the album as a whole. Now you might be thinking ‘wow, so many influences’ but honestly it’s a bit atonal if you’ve ever heard any sort of outsider music. A quick Bandcamp rabbit hole dive and you’ll soon uncover about five hundred other bands like this. I don’t dislike it though and it’s perhaps a good gateway into the weird for some. It has to be said though that the crowd cheering at the end kind of takes you out of the experience.

Solar Drone Ceremony, certainly an apt title for such a titanic album. Personally, I really liked it, but it isn’t anything vastly different to other Drone. It also isn’t really the sort of album you pop on for your commute either. Music like this demands a time and a place and in our ever-rushed world it’s hard to dedicate that time. However, I also love that kind of thing, it creates a real sense of musical purity that we don’t get any more, a world where albums matter, not singles or music videos. The album also isn’t really music, more performance art (much like most Drone), if you’re a bit of a lame person like me though with an interest in the occult then this’ll tick some boxes.

(8/10 George Caley)

https://www.facebook.com/neptunianmaximalism

https://i-voidhangerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/solar-drone-ceremony