Glowsun - Eternal Season

Artist: Glowsun

Album: Eternal Season

Label: Napalm Records

Genre: Stoner rock, Psychedelic Rock

Website: https://glowsun.fr/

The second studio album of French stoner rock band Glowsun is a densely layered trip into a psychedelic, dark underworld. The title of this musical trip is Eternal Season.

On Eternal Season, songs melt into eachother, sounds twist and turn and waves of melodies wash over the listener. For this album, there is no point in discussing track by track, the feeling that prevails is that this album is an inseparable entity which you should just bathe and indulge in.

Even though I'm not familiar with stoner rock, I enjoy listening to psychedelic rock from the 60s and 70s, as well as post-rock and shoegaze. The record of Glowsun touches upon all these genres, and hints at doom metal and atmospheric metal (think early The 3^rd and the Mortal) here and there as well. While 60s psychedelic rock drags you into an acid-infused world with spiraling and twirling bright colors and hope for a peaceful future, Glowsun's psychedelia takes you into a haunted bad trip, in which demons and witches come after you and whispering voices try to catch you while you can't escape.

The soundscapes that Glowsun create are magnificently dark and threatening. Most of the sounds are simply created by these three musicians, with electronics only here and there to add some additional effects. Most tracks are instrumental, but when vocals are used, for example in “The Thing”, they sound like a distant lamenting or whispering, embedded in layers of guitars. Unlike most other bands, Glowsun prefer to merely hide the vocals within their soundscapes – a very interesting approach indeed, which adds substantially to the atmosphere of the album.

One track that absolutely stands out on the album is the final “Monkey Time”. With some new age sounds of the deep forest in there, the track seems to start off as a lighter version of their music. But then, the story takes a turn, and the monkeys in this composition turn out to be evil and wanting to -I imagine- come and eat out your brain.

A side remark I'd like to make is related to the album's beautiful cover art. It is in fact an artwork by Glowsun's singer and guitarist Johan Jacob.

To conclude, this album is something you should experience: slide the disc into your stereo player, close your eyes, and take a ride. If you have any memories or imagination at all, I bet you soon will start to see stories and images unfold behind your shut eyes. And, to my opinion, music that can captivate their listeners in this way, is something we should cherish.

Try it out by giving this track a spin:

Buy Glowsun: Eternal Season