Misc. Day – Choked Sunlight

Aphotic is hopeless, the moments of despair are overbearing and encumber the listener in a solid-state. A trap of endless dread where Jupiterian can crush and act vigilantly toward the ultimate darkness that they produce. There are times where Jupiterian embodies the natural sense of death, they portray the muck and mire from which nightmares are born; a style only manageable by the four French members that dress in cloaked robes with an inseparable love for grief.

Jupiterian begins the onslaught of Aphotic with “Permanent Grey”, a track that springs immediately into the decrepit creep of deeply tuned strings, percussion that is shallow and dead, then finally with a vocalist’s style of growls that never reach higher than a scream. From the members of Jupiterian being simply titled “V”,”A”,”R”,”G”, or the all black attire that dawns like a funeral garb; there is a certain mystique behind Jupiterian’s style and approach.  With the deadly strikes that overpower the listener, succumbing them to the graveyard that sounds similar throughout the five-track descent as Jupiterian continue to illustrate their sense of destruction behind their style. Each track is similar in the way that the percussion and strings play droned out, almost similar to stoner rock where the strings and percussion are the driving forces of the tracks, but they do not become blitzing or even truly rushed. Instead, Jupiterian is a band that feels like a gradual lowering into the pits rather than a sudden jump.

This is where Jupiterian uses the roots of evil, and the seeds of malicious intent to become deceiving, leading the listener down the darkened hallways of the catacombs toward an eventual end that shrieks through the shadows. It is present on “Proclamation”, where Jupiterian moves away from the moments of authenticity behind the instruments and instead becomes a synthetic play style of heavily over-produced bass and guitar that eventually adds percussion in a simple snare beat that claps along with the bass until reaching an ultimate climax of whirling drum fills and guitar shrills.

The final moments of Aphotic are just as deadly as when Jupiterian began, they show no code of mercy when it comes to the final drilling where the percussion has a barrage of clashing cymbals and pounding snares that reign through the silence as the strings work together to bring a wall of sound. The vocal output is still incredibly daunting, but almost gentle as they begin to slowly slither through the noise, creating a sudden disconnect in the moments where they are highlighted. Jupiterian is relentless in the forceful nature, but somehow have a relaxing sense behind them. Their sound, while overbearing at times, is still manageable and droned out by how long the cuts are from Aphotic. Even in the sense where Jupiterian acts as aggressors, their sound is still magnificently tight with little to no room to breathe in the rather spacious level of production.

In the darkest times of Aphotic, Jupiterian is a sullen and unapologetic beast of burden on the sound; in the moments where they are not destroying everything in sight, they are instead building each other up and working synonymously with each other. Even in the ugliest of moments, Jupiterian still shows a side of humility and a true sense of craftsmanship behind their style.

Listen To Aphotic Here – BandCamp/Spotify