Awakened within the distortion infested waves of hyperspace years after reaching its cursed destination our psychic ravager regains consciousness casting a wide-beam array. Accosting the emptiness of its surroundings by way of horrifying spiral vortices set to drain upon regaining sight this gorer of worlds embodied by Ljubljana, Slovenia-based progressive death metal quintet SIDEREAN is both wrathful abominant and sophisticate traveler alike. Abrasive and malevolent in its jagged exterior yet beauteous in the abstract forms its hellish architecture jets out this sophomore full-length album, ‘Spilling the Astral Chalice‘, cracking open a second volume in six chapters wherein their grand psychotic journey continues to challenge beyond the norm. Rather than seek cleanly, preened spit n’ polish this follow-up bites into harshened and unpredictably set trips even more often as they stretch into each region of this new expanse matching the gape of the void with their own diabolic throttle.

Siderean technically formed back in 2010 under the name Teleport though their impetus and line-up was different I’d explored some of that history in review of ‘The Expansion‘ (2018) prior and to some degree in review of their stellarly debut (‘Lost on Void’s Horizon‘) under this new name back in 2021. I was a huge fan of the band’s evolution from a Vektor-esque technical thrash metal style unto a unique style of progressive metal under their original name but I was even more stoked by their next-stage evolution, naming their debut as #3 on my Top 75 Albums of 2021. I was enough of a fan that I’d bought the collectors edition of the LP and interviewed the band for some additional context (the second half of the interview is print only Mystification Zine issue #1). Their main points of inspiration appeared to pull from much more than Voivod type chord wrangling feats with the brutality of earlier Ulcerate, the weirding drift of Morbus Chron, and shocks of Ved Buens Ende inspired movement. Though they’ve never been as fluid in motion as say, StarGazer, there is yet that level of fusion carrying through their work as we now have two full-length albums worth of deeply detailed, challenging authorship reinforcing their own vision.

While I would generally suggest ‘Spilling the Astral Chalice‘ builds upon the vernacular the band’d been working on for the last decade and a half its overall structure features less repetitious movements than the oft hypnotic musing of ‘Lost on Void’s Horizon‘, losing some of the heady affect of that album’s deepest drift and gaining a raw directness which reads as dissonant brutality up front. The roar and tweaked step into riff that kicks off opener “The Sacred Sea” doesn’t waste a moment setting a scene before jetting back into pursuit, ripping through their signature guitar work with an intensely complex left-hand waltz as the dominant force. Rather than easing into prettier, lucid progressivisms as one’d expect I have to iterate that it was refreshing to hear Siderean going harder up front and doubling down on what’d made their debut such a wild outing. They’ve pushed so many odd-fingered, wrist crushing chords into this song that almost none of it reads as commonplace as the dissonant swelter of the song remains unobstructed for its duration.

At work with engineer and mixer Anže Čanžek at Negligence Studios since ~2016 the core Siderean experience is intensely organic in its rendering, presenting a landscape which is unreal but also built from endless hours in a rehearsal space where the sum of the parts set in concert is the main point of capture. With plenty more wide-open spaces left hanging and several longer pieces up front ‘Lost on Void’s Horizon‘ benefitted from the dynamic looseness of Damien Herring‘s mastering, lending a sort of prog-death voicing to the work to suit pieces like “Coalescing Into the Expanse”. Our distance from the performances is not so exaggerated this time around as the mix sets us closer within the scald of their magickry and mastering via maestro Gabriele Gramaglia at Crepuscular Sound Studio brings an additional level of definition to the increasingly intricate guitar layers available without sacrificing so much of the rhythm section’s presence. That space-rocking Oranssi Pazuzu (or, just Artificial Brain) feeling lilt to the drum and bass guitar interplay is now a foundational part of the sound design which reinforces its push. I’d especially felt this difference in precision and perceived space as the 9+ minute exposition of “Visions” hit and rode through its considerable gamut. While the opener was exciting enough it is within this piece that these folks make a brutal argument for this being their next-level gear.

With explosions still scattering through the celestial expanse behind them Siderean do not stop to take a breath, threading each of the first three pieces (assumedly Side A) without so much as a pause to reflect and still with more to show as “Forces” continues to develop the abstract swerve of the band to the point that their work appears restless in its riff-after-riff attack. The leads on this song are particularly insane and I’d definitely wanted more moments which played with guitar effects in a quick, fleeting way but I’d been just as stoked on their use of keyboards/synth within the second half of the song to help build the intensifying atmosphere of the piece. I’m not sure if I’d been content to suggest ‘Spilling the Astral Chalice‘ was the best yet release from these folks just yet but there was some hype-inducing sensation as I’d realized they’d still had more places they could stretch and innovate beyond their mind bending debut.

Though this particular abstracted realm of death metal is known for an innovative, exciting first half the true test of might is Side B as to whether the thread continues to weave itself or a pivot occurs away from iterative variation. The choice to embrace a new region of the expanse in the second half is ultimately what makes ‘Spilling the Astral Chalice‘ an impressive, unexpected trip beyond prior work. No doubt “Emerald Age” makes good on some of those abstract black metal intimations prior, moreso through the jazz fusion’d stumble of its movement and wailing vocal than anything ‘old school’ in mind, reinforcing this idea that Siderean‘s guitarists owe quite a bit to albums like Virus‘ ‘The Black Flux‘ (and The Chasm as we step into the first half of “The Coming Tides”) rather than say, Gorguts. The surreal frozen creep of Side B‘s opener and the slowly unfurled easing of “The Coming Tides” were for me just as much of a highlight as the abrasive step into the album, showcasing the level at which they’ve been able to exaggerate and muse upon technical yet abstracted forms without losing a well-shaped performative song in the process.

Dismantling the dark castle built over the last fourteen years into a fluid suspension “To Build Ruins” reinforces the patience of Siderean‘s composers in developing deliberately stacked atmospheres which begin from an obvious point of construction and then drift into unknown territory just as the ear begins to wander. In this sense this particular song rethinks the longer, esoteric drifting points of the past and settles into a very simple almost 70’s prog rock level of contemplative guitar progression (aided by outer-worldly synth) in playing out the final moments of their greater event. They never quite build it as high and ruthless as I’d wanted but if you tend to listen to full records on repeat, as I do, the overall cycle balances in this way, drifting off before awakening again afire.

The effect of the full listen was not as distantly set and detached as the prior album was per my own experience. In this sense I’d felt ‘Spilling the Astral Chalice‘ was confrontational and clear in voice despite dealing in deeply abstract cuts which’d taken some time to process. I think I was on my tenth spin and hit the sort of chanted vocal harmonization a couple of minutes into “Visions” and felt like I’d only skimmed the surface of what hyper-sped theatre is built into the freneticism they’ve delivered herein. The important note to take is that every moment counts here, even moreso than before and it causes the brain to whip and curdle beneath the imposing but never even slightly pretentious diction of their work. A sensation which is echoed perfectly within cover artwork courtesy of Fernando JFL who brings his own brand of morbid surrealism into their outer-spaced realms and this time with a colder, simpler palette. All things considered I’d had ridiculously high expectations set for this album, surer than shit that they’d not be able to match or top the impact of their long-considered debut, but I believe the slow-and-steady advance of Siderean should not be underestimated in its capability after sitting with this album for just over a month. The thing is that it still calls for more listens, not only because there is surrealistic pleasures and devious challenges faceted in their work but because I still feel there is yet more to delve into per the lyrics, the greater meaning of their work and it deserves even more time given for it to ripen in mind. A highest possible recommendation.

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