Listen out for tips o’ the hat to Enigma’s Sadeness in A Manipulation of Numbers – Mesarthim acknowledging their electronic influences. Vacuum Solution is technically a 5-track EP but I’m including it in my album-of-the-year list because: (a) it’s as staggering a piece of work as any album (b) Slayer’s Reign in Blood LP is only 28 minutes and 55 seconds long, yet that doesn’t stop people from hailing it as a classic album ( Vacuum Solution clocks in at 27 minutes, 48 seconds). Body hair standing up like a legion of antennae sensing magical frequencies in the air. The effect on the listener (in my experience, at least) is monumental. On top of that wave, riding it like a berserk surfer, is a roar of sheer cathartic abandon. Then 49 seconds in, the music quietens, there’s a momentary lull, expectation builds, and… BOOM! A gargantuan wave of riffage explodes out of the speakers. It starts off like something from Jan Hammer’s soundtrack to the original Miami Vice TV series – delicate keyboards and sublime melodies. Listen to A Manipulation of Numbers and you’ll hear what I mean. It is, however, a showcase of just how good the band has become at blending the two styles. This isn’t Mesarthim’s first time fusing ambient elements with colossal metal. Vacuum Solution is up there with the Alrakis albums as the most inspired and inspiring atmospheric black metal ever created. That’s why it’s so difficult to get the production right for a band of this scope: what do eternity, infinity and a supremely sentient consciousness roaming through space sound like? They sound like this. These soundscapes are too vast to be captured. The production on Vacuum Solution captures the vastness of the band’s sound. Some of those early tunes, despite being musically immaculate, were held back a little by production that could have been fuller. The duo’s early material blew my mind – I knew I was hearing the start of something special. My favourite Australian band found the perfect sound in 2021. My Top Albums of 2021 1= Mesarthim – Vacuum Solution
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