It makes perfect sense that the grim hooded eminences within Jupiterian chose the name they did. Their music is so stupendously heavy that evoking the solar system’s most massive planet — twice as massive as all other planets combined — can’t really be considered an act of hubris. They’ve earned the right to align themselves in that way.
Apart from its immensity, and the glacial slowness of its spin, Jupiter is also home to a giant red storm that is itself larger than Earth and has raged for hundreds of years. And perhaps the most striking evolution in Jupiterian’s new album Protosapien is how much their new music rages, and how powerfully it creates an atmosphere of fear, without sacrificing the quality of titanic heaviness that first brought them global attention.
The element of fear in the music is primeval. It digs down into the roots of the human mind and stirs pre-human terrors. That connection to the primordial is a strong one in the album track we’re premiering today, “Capricorn“, a connection that’s further strengthened by the imagery in the video through which it’s presented.
Ritualistic rhythms, the rumble of grim distorted chords, and the lurching pulse of an urgent riff unfold against visions of immense volcanic plumes, roiling thunderheads, and the mangled spears of lightning strikes. Those grim foundational chords moan with a feeling of increasing desperation until the drums begin hammering and cavernous growls begin turning the song in more savage directions. The energy becomes feverish as the music pounds and slashes, and as excruciating shrieks join those increasingly enraged roars.
The visuals, from beginning to end, are striking, and remain so even when the song descends into an abyss of harmonic misery and desperation, and quivers in the throes of dementia. The song drags across the mind in clawing and claustrophobic tones, and dissonantly churns in a semblance of queasiness and dread over the turbulence of blasting drums. It’s a thrilling way to end the song, but nothing that will leave you feeling easy in your skin. Jupiterian know where you’ve tried to hide your fears, and bring them out, running wild again.
With today’s premiere we’re kind of at the tail end of the musical revelations from Protosapien: Four other tracks have previously been revealed. And so now you have an extremely good idea what the album holds in store — or you will, if you listen to those four along with “Capricorn“, and we’ve made that easy for you to do.
Protosapien will be released by Transcending Obscurity Records on September 11th in a variety of formats, one of which you can see above. All the options can be investigated and purchased via the links below.
PRE-ORDER:
https://jupiterian.bandcamp.com/
JUPITERIAN:
https://facebook.com/jupiteriansect
TRANSCENDING OBSCURITY RECORDS:
http://tometal.com/
http://facebook.com/transcendingobscurityrecords