What’s the one place that is cold as ice, more barren than the desert, unforgiving in every way, but so beautiful that is has captured man’s imagination since the dawn of time? The answer is simple: space. The astral plains have always been a source of wonder, and thus has been a constant place for muscians to go to for inspiration, and Stellar Master Elite is no different. I personally have not heard their first two albums, but now I really want to because their third and upcoming release, “III: Eternalism – The Psychospherical Chapter”, is in every sense of the word a masterpiece. This album takes a little bit of everything from the worlds of both black metal and doom metal while also infusing that already unique sound with an ambiance that truly feels like you could be soaring through the cosmos.
While “III: Eternalism – The Psychospherical Chapter” started off a little slow, that eventually disappeared faster than you could think about it as the crushingly brutal guitars slammed into the mix out of absolutely nowhere. They had such an intense feel and sound to them that the chaos and the destruction that they conveyed cannot be represented as well as the album’s cover art does. So much of this hour long journey is comprised of demonic drums, straight up sinister guitars, vocals that were both guttural and raw beyond imagining beforehand, a bass that crushed everything in sight at any and every chance it could, and additional instruments (MS20, Prophet 12, Sub 37, Monotron Delay, Juno 60, Nebulophone (I’ve no idea what most of that is but I fucking love it!)) to create a real out of this world sound to the album. All of that shit mixed together into this 9-track beast worked so well that I could never have seen that coming. They molded perfectly together and created such an interesting sound that only people who have experienced any sort of really atmospheric metal can begin to imagine what I’m talking about.
All in all, this is one of this year’s best albums . . . by . . . far. There is elegance in the brutality of “III: Eternalism – The Psychospherical Chapter” is so overwhelming that I cannot help but tell – not recommend, not suggest, tell – you to go listen to this album. It is a magnificent experience that you cannot miss if you want to go through a truly unique musical trip that is as much brutal as it is beautiful. A masterfully crafted album that is a masterpiece like I said, Stellar Master Elite have proven with just this record that they are the masters of their genre.
LISTEN to the intro track, “Transmission: Disruption”, via YouTube below!
LIKE Stellar Master Elite on Facebook here.
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