Belgian ensemble Neptunian Maximalism, originally founded by
guitarist Guillaume Cazalet and
saxophonist Jean-Jacques Duerinckx with
drummers Sebastien Schmit and Pierre Arese,
rediscovered the link between Sun Ra's
astral music, John Coltrane's free jazz
and psychedelic rock.
The mini-album The Conference Of The Stars (2018) is mainly devoted to the
16-minute The Conference Of The Stars, a manifesto of their fusion of
free-jazz, psych-rock and drone-metal (alas weakened by
awkward recitation).
The triple-disc Eons (2020) added Reshma Goolamy (bass), Romain Martini (guitar), Didie' Nietzsche (electronics), Joaquin Bermudez (electric saz) and Alice Thiel (synth). This collective recorded an album that is really a trilogy.
The first part is dedicated to the Earth, and it opens with the
gargantuan tribal dance
Daiitoku-myoo no Odaiko.
Nganga (8:35) evokes an absurdist pantomime with Gong jamming with and Urban Sax and 100 street musicians.
The propulsive momentum peaks with the anthemic pagan ritualistic crescendo of Ptah Sokar Osiris (9:16), like
Crash Worship duelling with
Von Lmo.
Enuma Elis (7:10) instead focuses on free-form and cacophonous interplay.
The "Moon" section opens at the border of tribal and chaotic with
Zar (7:05) and then delves into
Indian-psychedelic dimensions with the
three-movement 16-minute Vajrabhairava.
The 12-minute Ol Sonuf Vaoresaji is a more subtle venture into
dissonant chamber music.
The "Sun" album tests the listener's patience with the extended drones of
Eos (18:32), like
SunnO))) lost
in a maze of mirrors, one drone rising after the other, like tidal waves,
until a shamanic invocation (12-minute mark) breaks the equilibrium and leads
to a slow fadeout.
Sitar noise and a melismatic prayer fuel Heliozoapolis (15:24), another
emitter of cosmic drones, but this time mostly vocal drones, while the instruments led by the sitar compete with a bacchanal.
Khonsou Sokaris (8:36) is the final collective "om" with no percussion.
This album stages a dizzying astral extravaganza that updates
Sun Ra, who was trying to escape a possible nuclear apocalypse, to the age of multiple possible apocalypses.
The more amateurish and inconclusive 52-minute Solar Drone Ceremony (2021) was recorded live in March 2020 by Cazalet, Duerinckx, Nietzsch, Goolamy, Bermudez, Martini, Thiel and new percussionist Lucas Bouchenot and Stephane Fedele.
Set Chaos To The Heart Of The Moon (2022) and
Finis Gloriae Mundi (2022)
document live concerts.
