#protosapien

Jupiterian | Starless | Protosapien | 2020

Brazilian Atmospheric Sludge/Doom Metal

Artwork by Mariusz Lewandowski

As you can probably tell by now, I’ve been binging doomy, sludgey metal that despite it being a bit slow, can still be overwhelmingly dark, gritty, and heavy. Brazil’s Jupiterian is no different. Forming in 2013, it took them a few releases to really get their stride (at least according to Encyclopaedia Metallum). It wasn’t until their 2017 release, Terraforming, that they really found their sound in this messy, heavy doom saturated in sludge that still somehow has a tinge of melody to it.  Their most recent release, Protosapien, really shows them improving on what made their last release work so well.

The album opens with “Homecoming”, which really sets the stage on what they’ll sound like for the rest of the album. The song is quite successful in driving home this sense of impending doom, only to pummel you further with their more sludgey influences in “Mere Humans”. The rest of the songs really go on to showcase how comfortable they are in switching between doom, sludge, and dare I say death metal? They also show in songs like “Capricorn” and “Starless” they’re not afraid to bring these subgenres together to really create something murky and dirty, but oh so good!

Probably my biggest complaint is how short the album feels overall. While the individual songs are slightly longer than average, with them clocking in around the seven-minute mark, it almost felt jarring to have the album end at around 35 minutes. But then again, maybe that was intentional on their part – if it was, kudos to them! The only other complaint, if you want to call it that, is that I would’ve loved to hear more of the guitars, bass, and drums. I get it, both sludge and doom love creating that thick, fuzzy, almost monotonous white noise. But they’re clearly quite skilled and comfortable with their instruments during the solos and instrumental parts of the album. And while the vocals are solid too, they can easily blend in with the rest of the sound they’re going for. Overall, though, it doesn’t really change how positively I feel about this album – it’s more or less wishful thinking.

With Protosapien, I really feel like they’ve made something special. It might take a few years for people to recognize this, but this almost seems like a breath of fresh air into the sludge, doom, and sludge/doom subgenres. It’s got that nasty edge of sludge, the overwhelming sense of doom from doom, solid musicianship and also, a fantastic album cover. I’ll be really curious to see how and what people think of this album in the future. Either way, if you’ve been looking for some absolutely punishing underground metal, this is it.

Rating: 8.5/10

My Favourite Song(s): Homecoming, Mere Humans, Starless (though to be fair, you can’t go wrong with any of the songs on this album!)

Bands You May Also Like:

Eremit: German sludge/doom with a healthy dose of a “powerful yet epic” atmosphere.  Their album Desert of Ghouls has been said to “send reverberations down your spine”. Although their songs are said to be longer, they’ve also been said to be able to grab your attention and keep it.

Soothsayer: Sharing the same label as Jupiterian (Transcending Obscurity) along with the same fusion genre, these Irish metallers bring in some extra atmosphere to their sludge/doom. Their EP, At This Great Depth, has been compared to “worlds crashing down on your beloved” with how “emotive and crushing” they are.