What Mad Universe – A Cosmic Chapter with Gaia (2010)

Featuring a very ethereal and fresh sound, today we have What Mad Universe, a two man band from France that plays a particular combination of Atmospheric Rock with Sludge and Post-Rock elements. For over 50 minutes we are treated with very enchanting compositions that will transport the listener to unknown realms of consciousness.

With a hefty mix of distorted guitars, atmospheric elements, some electronic ones, and the use of a banjo (Deliverance, anybody?), “A Cosmic Chapter with Gaia” nicely stands aside from the rest of atmospheric releases due to the intricacy and effectiveness of its songs. The masterminds behind this project PEP and RK do a great job in executing all these elements to perfection in order to create very engaging and interesting tracks.

Building up with the intro track “From Alpha Ursae Minoris (part.1)”, the album fully explodes with “And the Sun’s still silent”. In this track the distorted guitars open the way and are nicely enshrouded with a thick atmosphere. The nice banjo opening of “Eris In The Sky” is just genius, especially when the distorted guitars make their appearance. Going back into ethereal things we have “Mu Area D”, we are kind of partial to this song since the drums sound a bit funky (even fake) in some points, but the atmosphere is very nice.

The monolithic “Cosmic Chapter” is one of our favorite tracks due to the nice build up and the powerful riffing mixed with the ethereal Post-Rock like guitars. The Sludge-iness of “Across the Monolith” is another excellent example of the band’s creativity into mixing Sludge and Post-Rock very seamlessly. Our favorite track of this release has to be the highly emotional “Orion”, an 11 minute track that nicely encompasses all the elements that make this release excellent.

If you are a fan of Atmospheric Rock and Post-Rock, you will LOVE this very entertaining release. The band excels in creating very powerful pieces that elevate the listener’s consciousness level and never get dull or boring. So do yourself a favor and check this band out as soon as you can.

Release: May 20th, 2010

Country: France