Terraforming

Bands like Jupiterian tend to be interpreted one of two ways. Either the overwhelming sonic scope and atmosphere lead listeners to proclaim them the heaviest thing since sliced bread, or the lack of memorable riffs and distinctive musical accomplishments result in a rubbishing of the band on the principle that they don’t have real songs. I’d argue that both of those groups are missing the point slightly, although the latter party may be guilty of more wilful ignorance than the former. You see, I feel that Jupiterian have been accruing greater and greater philosophical import (call it creative ideology if you prefer) since their formation, with Terraforming a clear watershed moment. This second full-length shows, in my eyes, much clearer thinking than prior releases, manifested by a coalescence of all 6 tracks around core principles of theme and approach.

Jupiterian’s style could be called textured sludge metal, since the heft of sandy, distorted bass and thick, rumbling guitar rub up against several minor elements in most of the songs, steering the album firmly towards its atmospheric goals. With a bit of my own interpretation - necessary due to the roared vocals leaving lyrics indistinct - it seems that Terraforming once again channels the obsession with ancient times that these Brazilians advertised with debut EP Archaic, yet now the focus takes on a decidedly terrestrial hue as opposed to those spiritual pursuits that occupy some other atmospheric sludge and doom bands. Not yet has the imagery achieved such specificity as this year’s Protosapien, though the same aura of natural discovery (human or otherwise) underpins cuts like ‘Forefathers’ and ‘Us and Them’. In brief, a creative mind will run wild with those evocative song titles and vast musical sculptures.

For a fairly slow album that doesn’t quite reach 40 minutes, Terraforming achieves plenty of variety while maintaining its mysterious ambience. The title track largely relies on tremulous suspense and inhuman utterances to pin the listener to the spot, but ‘Matriarch’ had already done the same with repetitive ringing arpeggios in the first couple of minutes of the album. Similarly, ‘Forefathers’ opening with meditative tapping on a metal bowl reminds me of the practices of Buddhist monks, and still it draws enough from the unworldly to nail the mood Jupiterian were going for. Despite the variance in sonic profile, only the more aggressive drumming assault during ‘Us and Them’ feels out of place, mostly because of how it reintroduces temporality to an expansive experience through its shock value. Due to its swelling parameters, Terraforming demands listening to in full; it would be unintelligible split into parts.

Perhaps now you'll understand what I meant by saying that this anonymous quartet have been growing their ideas over time, since the basic parts of Jupiterian's music seem insignificant and meaningless by contrast to the overall picture. Much of this album is covered by large-scale yet actually quite simple riffing, none of which invites memorization or participation, but putting aside my normal preference for music to be both memorable and participative I can see that Terraforming impresses precisely due to its alien qualities that transfix me in the present moment from beginning to end. As a formula, this kind of album needs to have a specific end in mind, and what we get here hints enough at the massive implications of crushing alternative history to convey its weight in just the right manner. When Jupiterian arrive with full force, submission is the only sensible option.