Although seemingly coming out of nowhere, apparently The Last Eon seem suitably created out of chaos and no end of trials and tribulations. It has taken six years to create this infernal debut album and has led its instigator to burn outs and if we are to believe the hype no end of dabbling in psychedelic substances to achieve the acquired results. The main person who has pushed himself to the limits here is Norwegian Ødemark known also for The 3rd Attempt, Ovate and Necrocave who along with drummer Jarle Byberg has dipped into the apparently stagnant realm of industrial black metal.

It’s pretty apparent that this has been a somewhat successful experiment too as the result is a seething, caustic tumult of hyper-tumultuous frenzy which bludgeons the listener with little in the way of mercy over its eight manic numbers. ‘The Black legion’ trembles in and expands with a strange bludgeoning and bouncy percussive thrust expanding with blackened rasps and juggernauting riffs. It’s definitely cold, futuristic and hateful but there are also some glistening guitar parts between the rapidly expanding beats per minute. The template is not new and although perhaps as mentioned stagnant of late one that will be easily identifiable to fans of acts such as the short lived Diabolicum, early Aborym and most profoundly countrymen Mysticum. Drum and bass electronica is the ballast on Asthetamine and the drugs are certainly kicking in by now as the volatile lunacy takes hold. There’s a strong melody here and a techno infusion that makes you want to get up and actually dance in a dark seedy club. If a band like The Deathstars had balls as they morphed from Swordmaster they may have actually sounded like this, however this is the sound of the underground and although catchy as hell truly one for the devil’s disciples to bounce along to. Mutated thudding beats drive the energy even further to the limits on ‘The Birth Of No-One’ and we are whipped round like we are on a merry-go-round that’s spinning out of control. Some sinister spoken words devilishly add some macabre atmosphere and colourful sonic effects fly around like laser beams bursting killer clowns into flames in the circus of death. Next we are in space with the planetary destruction of the Kosmicalypse. It’s almost cartoonish by design as an out of control spaceship battles Galaxian forces and meteors hurtle all over the shop; futuristic in a favourite 80’s video game sort of way. It’s at this point that I realise that despite all the evil vibes being cast out, this is actually quite a lot of fun, perhaps a comment that Ødemark was not expecting.

One does not have to wonder about drug of choice here, it’s kind of constant with the musical territory and made clear by ‘DMT – Infernal Fractality.’ It’s even chanted out at the beginning of the song before it explodes with fractal spinning intensity and bounces your brain from pillar to post. Evil cackles and whoops of lunacy, backing chants and then a cease-fire as a car drives off in the distance (?) and throat singing emerges from the void. Yep its odd but the senses cling to it like a limpet as control is abandoned and you go with the flow. There’s even some clean crooning vocal parts hitting the rafters as we hold on to our sanity for dear life and hope not to come round from it all as a gibbering wreck in a hospital waiting room. A God or perhaps Hal 9000 from 2001 a Space Odyssey speaks out to us on ‘Cosmos’ we float around buoyed by slab of ballast from the drums on this instrumental monolith, questioning our very reality. Plummeting through the existence and the outer void of ‘0’ we finally crash land as ‘Thus Light Spoke’ delivers final judgement in the form of madness. Well its certainly been a trip and a half through the light fantastic, into the darkness and beyond. I took the sober approach when confronting this and only just about survived. You are probably best advised to do the same. If, however you decide to ‘Never Stop The Madness’ we take absolutely no responsibility for the risks.

(8/10 Pete Woods)

https://www.facebook.com/thelasteon.official

https://soulsellerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/infernal-fractality