Elder’s full-on, two-footed dive into prog has been a lot of fun.
Likewise, here, the opening “Sigil To Ruin” sees the synths as high up in the mix as the guitars, but so sprawling are these epics that there’s room for everything to breathe. By the halfway point the guitars crush, but this isn’t that album, and maybe Elder aren’t that band anymore.
They’ve always been unconventional. Hell, they don’t even seem to know exactly when they formed. But it’s been around 20 years now, and with that experience comes something genuinely special.
There’s much to love here. “Capture/Release” almost marries the two worlds, as it ushers itself in on a bed of synths, but still has enough rock meat on the bones to keep everyone happy.
Through Zero has the quality that so many of Elder’s best records do: it almost seems to float out of the speakers and up into the ether before crashing back into your conscience with a real thud.
That’s particularly true of “Strata”, which merges straight in, giving the album the feel of one continuous piece. And goodness me, it’s superb. A real sprawling masterpiece. A chug here, a tranquil bit there; the longest thing here is also the best.
“Sight Unseen” is gloriously tranquil at its start, but so skilfully done that it doesn’t need words to tell its story. That, in itself, is Elder’s trick: they build worlds without ever needing to explain them.
The last one, “Blighted Age” — which, given that it’s under six minutes, is nearly punk on this record — is acoustic and blissed out, even as Nick DiSalvo sings: “we know there’s got to be a better way.” It becomes hypnotic.
In fact, “hypnotic” is the word for the whole thing. If ever there was a record to lose yourself in, Through Zero is that album. Indeed, I suspect you could do it multiple times and hear different things every single time.
A journey into who knows where — but you won’t want to leave.
RATING: 8.5/10
