Presented as black magick ritual set to overtake the immortality of the divine this sixth and latest full-length album from Brussels, Belgium-borne improvisational drone metal and avant-garde jazz collective NEPTUNIAN MAXIMALISM coils itself within diabolic summon as the core quartet relays transformational wisdom of serpents. A live recording from a bespoke performance ‘Nāgabhūtaṃ‘ achieves its core language early on and spends much of its time toying with texture and atmospheric command in illustrating deity-level alteration. It may not be the heaviest and most detailed bout from the troupe yet their work here ultimately offers an admirable and eclectic level of expression worth repeating.

Neptunian Maximalism is a collective of artists directed by musician, designer and producer Guillaume Cazalet who’d formed the group after attending a free improvisation lab lead by saxophonist Jean Jacques Duerinckx (Föhn Ensemble, ZAÄAR) back in 2018. He’d soon after organized a three day residency where they’d recorded ideas and a full improv performance on the final day, documented as ‘A Voodoo Heavy Tribal Experience‘ (2018). Inspired by drone metal, free jazz, psychedelic rock, zeuhl, krautrock and delivered within ritualistic extended live performances the original quartet would feature a dual percussion setup with drummers Pierre Arese (Aksu), and Sébastien Schmit (K-Branding) lending a strong rhythmic spine to their efforts. Downtuned baritone guitars and Duerinckx‘ (typically) baritone saxophone work bear an intentionally primal but not minimal approach to a jammed, droning extremity of their own though we don’t necessarily have to consider their discography metal adjacent. Since I’d gone into excessive detail in review of the band’s ambitious triple LP ‘Le Sacre Du Soleil Invaincu‘ (2025) that’d be the best source for additional thoughts on their discography.

Many configurations (arkestra(s), “drone opera”, etc.) have come and gone over the course of Neptunian Maximalism‘s lifespan but today we are largely dealing with the original quartet configuration with one substitute wherein Dirk Wachtelaer (Silence Collapse) takes the place of Arese for this recording. What type of recording it is involves a bit of decoding here as those unfamiliar with the band’s work might not realize all of their records are captured live, either in Cazalet‘s studio or during larger performances, and then receive editing and additional layering later on. Every recording from this group is distinct and always improvised, even the edits/overdubs replicate real uninterrupted performances. In the case of ‘Nāgabhūtaṃ‘ we are dealing with the band’s earlier sound you’ll recognize from the similarly massive ‘Éons‘ back in 2020 where collaboration with Duerinckx work was/is a major part of the band’s voice.

If you are struggling for metal-related reference for this sound the closest thing is maybe ‘Sustain‘, a collaboration between Chaos Echœs and saxophonist Mats Gustafsson I’d reviewed back in the day but in the case of Neptunian Maximalism traditional and tribal music is a major shaper of theme and improvised expression. From Cazalet‘s perspective improvisation is a form of social and political value generation, a statement rooted in self-liberation and anarchic ethos where conscious listening and action strengthen total communal affect. Themed on spiritual salvation in most cases the curation of this and all of the band’s works have thus far reached for far eastern and south Asian symbolism, in this case ‘Nāgabhūtaṃ‘ collects eleven pieces of a total performance titled “Among the gods, at the sight of the one who has become a serpent, they are afraid.” and invokes a transformation into a serpent, an intentionally dark and imposing mutation meant to suit the ~43 minutes of musing found herein.

Recorded live in concert at the Le Botanique cultural center in Brussels on April 9th, 2025 ‘Nāgabhūtaṃ‘ has been cut to flow uninterrupted into eleven natural movements, barely resembling a live album beyond its resonance in space. The steady reveal and exploitation of various sonic textures, unique instrumentation and vocal expression here maintains the entertaining standard already set by Neptunian Maximalism‘s past releases. We get whispers, breath, growling, and even some effects dipped droning throat-sung emissions along the way but these are largely sound effects for the sake of atmosphere rather than consistent characterization beyond a narrative half-line here and there on opener “XI”, “XV” and a few others. The major voice for most of the experience trades between Duerinckx‘ baritone + sopranino saxophone work and the rhythmic interplay between Cazalet‘s guitar work and the two drummers.

The ramp toward the longest piece, “XIIII”, builds tension and little else as they establish a thread and begin to become more bold within both interjections and the runs ahead. Knowing when to give room to breathe, such as the backing given to Duerinckx throughout the first several songs, is a great strength here in terms of maintaining coherence and due fixation though it is a wonder that the shared thrones of percussion never once fully stumble upon each other. I’d particularly enjoyed the eternally crawling noir quasi basslines thrumming throughout “XIIII”, though I’m not sure if they are clean baritone guitar riffs or a separate bass guitar performance their effect is a real gravity sink upon the full listen of ‘Nāgabhūtaṃ‘.

In any improvisational performance I am always most interested in identifying two things, the first being that moment where the ideas begin to run dry and adaptation becomes readable in motion, and more importantly the general interplay/chemistry between the musicians and how well they work together to either finish a thought or transition away in a timely manner. Neptunian Maximalism have always excelled at this, by way of editing or instinct, but not since their first couple of releases has it felt like they were on the edge of losing the plot. When I first hit “XVII” b/w “XVIII” there was the sense that they were dropping it a bit but instead the sort of irregularly shaped collapse of their tempo map suits the vaunting saxophone drawl, bizarre synth, and rattling percussion in surround. This and the darker progression toward the end of the performance help to salvage some waning interest on the way out. To my ear the performance begins to atomize and exhaust just before “XX” kicks off the snarling of the end.

Curation is a great talent of Cazalet and his team, one that has been proven across many releases, but I think the overall outward appearance of and sound design afforded ‘Nāgabhūtaṃ‘ might be one of the best applications of aesthetic to Neptunian Maximalism to date, at least excepting the two enormous triple LP releases that’d preceded it. Cover artwork from Daniele Valeriani had me ready to buy this album without even seeing the band name, and the live recording with its marble-walled and open aired feeling doubly enforced the primordial spiritual affect of the band brilliantly. Though it isn’t the most active, heaviest or most elaborate work from the collective to date this latest album is an exceptional slice of their experience in practicum, a dark summon worthy of numerous attentive sessions. A moderately high recommendation.

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