"Among the Gods
At the Sight of the One
Who Has Become a Serpent
They Are Afraid"
NEPTUNIAN MAXIMALISM - Nāgabhūtaṃ (marble orange vinyl LP) (2026)
The Belgian Drone collective Neptunian Maximalism had been in turbulence lately. Personal misbehaviour of one member and the following cracks in friendship and consequently the band's line-up lead to them cancelling various shows, including their performances as support act for Blood Incantation where Insect Ark stepped in instead. Even though I cannot know what they had planned to play on those shows, I assume it would still have been a part of the touring cycle for the Blackened Raga Drone Doom Metal of "Le Sacre Du Soleil Invaincu".
With that chapter being closed prematurely the ensemble around guitarist / multi-instrumentalist Guillaume Cazalet returned to the eve, both in space and time, by playing a fully improvisational show in their homeground of Le Botonique in Brussels, with a quartet line-up reminiscent to the "Éons" era, with two drummers and colossal saxophone maximalist Jean Jacques Duerinckx returning to the fold. It's indeed almost the same cast as back in 2018, with only one of the percussionists being replaced by a new guest member.
This incarnation of the band is even officially called the Neptunian Maximalism Éons Quartet in the credits on Bandcamp.
"Nāgabhūtaṃ" (a combined Hindi word which roughly translates to "to become a serpent") is a deliberate step away from the Metal aesthetics of the last album, back to Neptunian Maximalism's original brand of a wildly pulsating sonic ritual, which is in equal parts made of the Black Magick inversion of Spiritual Free Jazz, Tribal Drone, Psychedelic Rock and Doom Metal, without ever fully actually becoming one of those influences.
It is a return to the group's primordial roots, but not a rerun. While all elements, from the deep Northern Asian overtone singing to the powerful baritone sax blasts and the daringly chaotic syncopated drums feel familiar, there are subtle new tweaks like Cazalet playing the toy synth instrument Otamatone instead of flute or brass instruments. Mainly however it's the growth and experience of the musicians during the past dozen years, which leads to a slightly different constellation of everything coming together. We're watching the same stars, yet from another angle.
With a running time of forty-two minutes "Nāgabhūtaṃ" channels a similar otherworldy energy as "Éons" did, but it distills the celestial flow into a more purposefully focussed - yet still imposing and cathartic - result.
The packaging of the marbled orange vinyl (released by I, Voidhanger Records) does the cosmic meditation justice with a great front cover artwork by Daniele Valeriani and an inlay featuring various photographs of this remarkable performance.
So far no flaw has been detected by me. The ridiculously noisy escalation in the final eleventh movement of "Devānām madhye nāgabhūtaṃ dṛṣṭvā te bibhyati" is truly earned at that point. This is Neptunian Maximalism at their best, defying their internal crisis and affirming their position at the spear head of contemporary timeless Drone. Yet another masterpiece!
With that chapter being closed prematurely the ensemble around guitarist / multi-instrumentalist Guillaume Cazalet returned to the eve, both in space and time, by playing a fully improvisational show in their homeground of Le Botonique in Brussels, with a quartet line-up reminiscent to the "Éons" era, with two drummers and colossal saxophone maximalist Jean Jacques Duerinckx returning to the fold. It's indeed almost the same cast as back in 2018, with only one of the percussionists being replaced by a new guest member.
This incarnation of the band is even officially called the Neptunian Maximalism Éons Quartet in the credits on Bandcamp.
"Nāgabhūtaṃ" (a combined Hindi word which roughly translates to "to become a serpent") is a deliberate step away from the Metal aesthetics of the last album, back to Neptunian Maximalism's original brand of a wildly pulsating sonic ritual, which is in equal parts made of the Black Magick inversion of Spiritual Free Jazz, Tribal Drone, Psychedelic Rock and Doom Metal, without ever fully actually becoming one of those influences.
It is a return to the group's primordial roots, but not a rerun. While all elements, from the deep Northern Asian overtone singing to the powerful baritone sax blasts and the daringly chaotic syncopated drums feel familiar, there are subtle new tweaks like Cazalet playing the toy synth instrument Otamatone instead of flute or brass instruments. Mainly however it's the growth and experience of the musicians during the past dozen years, which leads to a slightly different constellation of everything coming together. We're watching the same stars, yet from another angle.
With a running time of forty-two minutes "Nāgabhūtaṃ" channels a similar otherworldy energy as "Éons" did, but it distills the celestial flow into a more purposefully focussed - yet still imposing and cathartic - result.
The packaging of the marbled orange vinyl (released by I, Voidhanger Records) does the cosmic meditation justice with a great front cover artwork by Daniele Valeriani and an inlay featuring various photographs of this remarkable performance.
So far no flaw has been detected by me. The ridiculously noisy escalation in the final eleventh movement of "Devānām madhye nāgabhūtaṃ dṛṣṭvā te bibhyati" is truly earned at that point. This is Neptunian Maximalism at their best, defying their internal crisis and affirming their position at the spear head of contemporary timeless Drone. Yet another masterpiece!
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