Time to step into the musical apiary here, hopefully it will be sweet and we won’t get stung. Mind you it would not be surprising if the German quartet got a few barbed hooks into us, after all we are in close quarters with them for the long run, this being a whopping double album with a run time of almost 80-minutes. For those not versed in their craft this is doom of the psychedelic variety, so expect some epic songs on this, their 3rd album. There are other facets to take into account along the journey which sprawls out quite luxuriously over both a title and running time signifying eternity.

There are some massive instrumental jams and periods of fluttering guitar which unravel in the aforementioned psychedelic nature. Vocals seep in now and again and are fragrant and clean on the whole, a few gravid barks snarled out for good measure. Delicacy and lightness may well be the starting point of songs like the opening, title track but there are also solid drums, reverberating bass and an almost frenzied style awaiting to be unlocked and sonic contortions are rigorously employed. One thing is assured, the foursome operate with a hive-mind and really bounce off each other in a collaborative and tightly controlled focus, meaning the music although at times elongated never gets stale or boring. Perhaps a lazy comparison but the reverberations summoned up by the likes of’ Divergence’ would give the likes of Electric Wizard a run for their amps. I can easily imagine this turning you deaf live and it is a billowing mass even if not perhaps a black one. After some shrill and tenebrous moth-wing shapes contorted out via the tremulous guitar department ‘Threatening’ spreads doom tendrils into hallucinatory realms and certainly does as suggested to one’s expanding brain cleft. It’s cool to coast along to and let it take you off on its meandering tapped out drum beat and guitar waves and if anything shifts tone to quite a calming one. Speaking of which those looking for dreamy nirvana will find it in two shorter numbers at the midway point. ‘Consonance’ takes us on an acoustic guitar trail with an Americana themed twang until we are transported into a pastoral ‘Courtyard’ with the blissful sounds of nature adding a momentary haven to previously decimated eardrums.

At first ‘Excavation’ summons memories of The End of The Doors and provides me images of children going insane. It’s loose and bluesy and the more tranquil nature of the band has taken over now for quite some time. Naturally a seismic shift will gradually rear head again and, bass ballast, coarse vocals and squealing guitars emerge. I found the bass sound particularly enthralling and thick on ‘Scouring The Land’ reminiscent if anything of Fields Of The Nephilim as the hymnal vocals and melodic drift and diverge into hazy Floydian realms. It feels like the aeons pass alongside it and is a welcome bridge between past and present as it builds and folds in on itself.

For most bands this would be more than enough and the addition of a whopping 21 ½ minute song ‘Grey Wels’ could well have proven too much for listeners and was always going to be a risk. For once though less isn’t more and the qualities of the song are its strength as it gradually wakens, the droning temperament like snores and moves into a gentle melodic caress with placid clean vocals and a sense of wide open space. Fans of heavier realms need not worry as this mighty construct builds with heft and weight absorbed into the fluttering diorama and the guitar melody literally sings out as it jangles away at the halfway mark. Now things are unleashed the propulsive elements carry the listener aloft in waves on sonic psyche until everything finally fractures and silence is once more restored.

I was obviously concerned by the length of this opus and it could have been a chore akin to a band such as Bell Witch. Thankfully time did not stand still and the constant shapeshifting sounds kept attention through various listens. ‘Aion’ proved to be a delight to both listen to and review and the bees have made some damn sweet nectar here, well worthy of get stuck into.

(8/10 Pete Woods)

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