Jupiterian "Protosapien" Review

 

    Another crushing release from transatlantic record label Transcending Obscurity, Jupiterian's new full-length Protosapien is a hybrid sludge/doom/death excursion that, while never overstaying its' welcome, never feels anything less than planet-sized.

    At just under thirty six minutes, the Brazilian band's content is here probably best digested as a whole record, which is why in my discussion about it here I'll be giving my more general feelings towards it as a whole. Opening with the sounds of massive electronic percussion and buzzing flies - I pictured corpses rotting on a battlefield with drums and horns in the distance - the atmosphere is quickly set for Jupiterian to serve up their unique blend of despair-laden metal. The production on this record is exceptional, sitting neatly between something professionally-cut  and the more raw sounds of a lofi black metal tape. The guitar tones are guttural and crunchy on the low end, able to to drone and chug on as in the intro to Voidborn or Capricorn, while the piercing almost-painful tone of ringing dissonant chords - a sound present throughout the record - are among the best of this kind I've heard in the genre. Bass is always audible, but stays away from many of the more 'tech-y' sounds you might be familiar with. No, instead the Jupiterian guys seem utterly unconcerned with impressing the listener with flashy guitar heroism, keyboard solos, fretless bass or frantic drumming, instead choosing to focus on the creation of a crushing swirl of hellish noise at a largely mid or low tempo. If Dream Theater or Luna's Call - my last review - are powerlifters with shredded delts, Jupiterian is the 6'7" 450 lb Ivan who lifts goats for circus outside Smolensk - look, metaphor aside, these guys rightfully feel no need for pomp and circumstance in this group of tunes.

    The middle and end sections of Capricorn do segue into blast-beats, however. Though earlier I did characterize this as a synthesis between the more death-doom side of things with a sludgy aesthetic, I would add that the black metal sensibilities are clearly present throughout. Where riffs repeat enough times to become hypnotic, those unsettling melodies come forth to grab your ear and keep your interest. Starless is filled with more abrupt tempo and key changes, and is not, in fact, a King Crimson cover. The vocals are an intriguing mix of Immortal-esque snarling with occasional flourishes of deeper growls or higher screams. In that sense, its' musical elements are largely doom/death; Jupiterian here does a good job of blending their various influences into something that sounds unique but firmly rooted in roots doom metal. The tempos are sufficiently varied so as to keep me from getting bored while generally remaining slow, and there are occasional oddities like the voice sample (Winston Churchill? I didn't really look too into it) at the end of Mere Humans, or the oddly groovy and Sabbathian opening riff of Capricorn. You ever listen to a doom metal record and it's sixty plus minutes long with almost no deviation from the formula? A track or two might be of interest from a structure standpoint, have a catchy riff, or otherwise stick in your mind, but by the time you're done listening you barely remember what it sounded like? Protosapien is, most assuredly, NOT that kind of album.

     Instead here we have a masterfully-produced and surprisingly short-lived set of pieces on Jupiterian's third - but let yourself be absorbed into their elephantine hell of guitar noise and war drums and you'll find yourself nodding, swaying along with the record...which is over before you can think about it! My inclination is to say 'I want more', but they have two records, an EP and single releases dating back to 2014, and I would much rather have a short-lived, quality record than an overlong one with only a few standout moments.

Faves: Mere Humans, Capricorn

You can listen to Jupiterian on Transcending Obscuritiy's Bandcamp:

-Eric