Review: Kilter ‘Ten Billion Years’
Kilter are an incredible trio of musicians based out of New York City and Paris. They play an amazing style of avant-jazz prog metal. The band has been active for several years and have created some seriously magnificent works.
Their releases include the full-length Axiom released in 2020, the SYS EP, which I had the honor of reviewing for the Shaman back in 2021 and 2024’s epic jazz metal opera La Suspendida.
The band consists of superbly talented and accomplished musicians – drummer Kenny Grohowski has anchored projects for the legendary John Zorn and currently plays in the avant-garde death metal powerhouse Imperial Triumphant, bass saxophonist Ed Rosenburg spent time with the Brooklyn Philharmonic, and bassist Laurent David has backed Grammy nominee Ibrahim Maalouf. The impressive background of each player is evidence of the immense talent and musicianship awaiting when one gives a listen to any of their outstanding releases.
The concept Kilter’s new album, Ten Billion Years, tackles the birth and death of our solar system through the odyssey of a single water droplet – born in space, traveling through matter, life, and climate, until its ultimate dissipation into the interstellar void. They have accomplished this goliath of a task by creating an album that exemplifies their vision with utter brilliance. It’s loaded with tasty experimental jazz, tons of doom-ridden metal and psychedelic prog all wrapped in enormously vast sounds.
It begins with Built & Broken, which is a powerful introduction with its mighty and chaotic doom jazz and intricate drumming verging almost on death metal. It’s definitely the perfect way to express the turbulent beginnings of our universe. The song progresses into Falling & Vaporizing which is a splendid mix of ‘80s dark synth sounds and jazzy horns playing downward-moving scales, and in traditional doom jazz fashion, there is an eerie overtone.
Raining & Raining is a sludgy dirge with elaborate bass, prog-sounding horns and rhythmical forms of aural bliss. Continuing our adventure with Rivers & Oceans, it begins with slow drones that move into a heavier realm with excitingly captivating bass and horn work. The accompanying drums are perfectly situated within fascinating time signatures. Imagine Coltrane at his most experimental or Zappa at his most profound melded with the mathematical drumming of Meshuggah brought into the mix, you’re getting the idea of how incredibly varied and interestingly awesome Kilter is.
loaded with tasty experimental jazz, tons of doom-ridden metal and psychedelic prog…
Next, we are met with Depth & Darkness. It’s a slow, doom-ridden track of intense proportions. If SUNN O))) and Neurosis were to join forces and create music together, this is what they would release. We are given an adventure into a seriously gloomy tribal world. Living & Rising follows and is the perfection of doom noir jazz. It’s pure elegance that is reminiscent of bands like Bohren and Der Club of Gore, and the bass sax is especially beautiful. This moves into Weather Cycle, a track chock-full of Melvins-style sludge and Mr. Bungle sounds with elements of black metal incorporated into a very free-jazz structure.
Awakening & Living is our next venture where we get much more of a standard jazz feel, although it’s still got a gloomy edge. It also consists of a person talking over the music about the treacheries of existence, living in the modern world and the troubles so many of us face. We are then met with Darkness Again, a gem that exhibits prog rock with psychedelia; one could definitely make comparisons to experimental krautrock bands of the ‘70s such as Can or Embryo, but Kilter adds a much heavier edge. This brings us to album closer Escaping To Infinity, which is composed of harsh industrial beats with overtones of illustrious noise in the Einstürzende Neubauten vein.
Included with the album is the Ten EP, a bonus collection of minute-long tracks consisting of slowed-down, stretched-out reinterpretations of the band’s material.
Ten Billion Years is a paragon of avant-jazz metal mastery. The band have expanded dramatically on what is being created in prog, death, doom, black, psych, industrial, kraut, and drone, bringing all of those heavy styles into the world of jazz. Fans of the genres mentioned above, or any form of avant-garde music, will love this record.
Label: Alter-Nativ
Band Links: Facebook | Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram
Scribed by: Maxwell Seeman
