Panopticon by ISIS turned 20 years old this week. As musically life changing as it was for me it brings back memories of the number of copycat bands that sprung up around that time. It felt like it took a decade for bands to take some influence from ISIS and parts from others to construct their own, more original ideas. What is clear with Ghosts of Glaciers is they have a breadth of inspiration and they meld those to produce originality with great variety and wondrous results. Eternal is a journey, and like life it produces moments which enthral as well as surprise and going through those emotions with the band is a captivating experience.
Whilst the band is fully instrumental the three members more than fill the sound and the first noticeable thing with Eternal is how beautifully recorded the album is. It is that amplitude that got me thinking of using ISIS as a tenuous link to start the review. As much as I don’t favour the latter ISIS output to the earlier, they really did bring in some texture and fullness to the instrumentation. I get that sense of appreciation and enjoyment from the opening combo of ‘The Vast Expanse’ and ‘Sunken Chamber’. These two behemoths cover 24 of the albums 37 minutes with excellent post-metal, post-rock, atmospheric doom, black metal and prog metal sensibilities. The band is no stranger to long form tracks and these two hold attention and provide thrills throughout and the rich sound with just three instruments is exquisite.
Throughout there are many moments of introspection, exploration, toil, triumph and the album ends on a note of astonishing sublimity. ‘Regeneratio Aeterna’ is just out of this world beautiful. Whilst the warm piano solo fills me with so many emotions, thinking about it, it doesn’t have too much of a connection to the rest of the album. Preceding monstrous tracks ‘Leviathan’ swept me off on a riff for four minutes and seemed to finish before my feet hit the ground, and ‘Ruined Fortress’ went back to the depth of post-metal crunching heaviness, so it came as a bit of a shock to end up at ‘Regeneratio Aeterna’. Yet, I can’t stop listening to it. There is awe in so much of the album but the use of the piano conjures the emotions from a very different angle. It is a fabulous ending.
Eternal offers many different facets, it can live in the background or it can be in the forefront. The instrumentation is impeccable and the structures are engaging and executed flawlessly. Instrumental metal has a world of possibilities and if you allow yourself, then Ghosts of Glaciers will take you there and then some.
