Apocynthion – Sidereus Nuncius (2013)

Going over tons of releases every month, we rarely get to enjoy unexpected masterpieces like Apocynthion’s “Sidereus Nuncius”. Having received the promo directly from the band, we got immediately hooked into their music after the first song and we have been constantly listening to it non-stop since then. Delivering seven tracks of majestic Post-Rock/Post Black Metal with Shoegaze and some Doom elements, the band’s sound is quite moving and powerful.

Opening in a very dreamy note with a sample from “2001: A Space Odyssey” on top of atmospheric arrangements, the band commands attention with this hypnotic opening. “Redshift” continues with a Post-Rock vibe, similar to Godspeed Your Black Emperor and God is an Astronaut, filled with cool percussions and dreamy clean vocals. This ten-minute track slowly morphs into Post-Black Metal territories with powerful and dreamy guitars accompanied by shrieks of desperation. The band reminded us of Heretoir, Lantlos and similar outfits, but they always keep their own musical identity.

Things only get better with the brilliant “Nothing Important Happened Today” parts I and II. In the first part, the band sets a very powerful melancholic mood with mesmerizing clean vocals and beautifully layered guitars. Switching back and forth from harsh sections to dreamy passages, the band delivers quite an intense and powerful song. On part II, we get a more tranquil side of things with weeping guitars and intricate percussions. The band’s ability decision to split this epic track into two different ‘movements’ works wonderfully and allows the album to flow very nicely.

Keeping the ethereal music flowing with “MDSCC”, this is the point where you will become a huge fan of this band or just turn the music off. The musicianship behind this track (and all others) is quite excellent and everything is very well layered to achieve a powerful atmospheric effect and be aggressive when needed. The ambient track “33.675 N, 106.475W”, is very eerie and quite haunting. When you Google the coordinates you will find what the band is alluding with this track, something we will not ruin for the listener, so start Googling.

The album closes with the 14-minute masterpiece “Redux”. In this song the band slowly builds up and delivers another excellent track filled with mood changes and very brutal BM sections. This song also has some cool trippy passages that fit the Post-Rock side of things perfectly, and that help to bridge the aggressive sections of the song very nicely. We can’t really pick a clear favorite track in this release since they are all equally mesmerizing.

Overall, “Sidereus Nuncius” is one of those few releases that has us floored from beginning to end. Apocynthion has achieved a masterful level of aural pleasure with this release and it is quite a feat in our opinion. While the band has tons of influences from other bands, they carve their own little niche and create their own brand of ethereal music. As a bonus, the album’s artwork is quite impressive and it was done by none other than the superbly talented Fursy Teyssier, making it an even more appealing purchase for our collection.

Label: Pest Productions

Release: April 17th, 2013

Genre: Post-Rock/Post-Black Metal/Shoegaze

Country: Spain