How is it possible that these guys are not signed to a label, I remember thinking in utter disbelief around the beginning of the year, when I had fished Galvanist’s The Silence Between Stars from the promo bin, ahead of its planned independent release. Sometimes the great old ones also known as record labels hear your bewilderment across the astral seas of infinity, snap their fingers and cosmic justice is served through a record deal and label release, this time courtesy of Aeternitas Tenebrarum Musicae Fundamentum who are known for having a keen eye for bands that traverse across rigid genre boundaries to explore grand themes and experiment with the constituents of metal, free from hackneyed musical expectations. And I for one feel compelled to applaud their great decision.

If your main inspiration and lyrical themes are based on the philosophy of Georges Bataille and your opening track proper is as powerful and captivating as “Atrophy,” you have me at hello and gain my consent to drag me deeper into the vastness of your musical universe. The key ingredients of Galvanist’s excellence are on full display from the get-go, heralded by the rough groan and growl of Micah Tippit’s lead guitar and Tanner Earhart’s coarse howl that emanates from the inky void. The pressure wave of majestic dread unleashed by the arrival of the multi-layered wall of sound is a grand statement that grabs your full attention into a chokehold for its nearly 10-minute duration. “Atrophy” demonstrates a masterful emotional build-up and impact, exemplified by the tidal devastation starting at the 2:25 mark, when the wailing lead guitar suddenly makes way for the relentless barrage grounded in Chris Navarro’s resolute drumming and synths that soar above everything, before the goosebump-inciting reappearance of the lead guitar that together elevate the sense of epic wonder even further, revealing one of Galvanist’s strengths, namely, their ability to weave from a seemingly monotonal vantablack metal yarn a vivid multi-hued tapestry, replete with textures and transitions marked by bold ombre and depth. Cases in point: Listen to the windswept jagged hollowness of the lead guitar tone materializing at 6:35, with an almost violin-like screech and wail that adds dark dramatic flair; or witness the magisterial use of textures and dynamics when the song reaches its crescendo at the 7:40 mark and levitates for 17 seconds that feel like blissful eternity before the hammer falls. “Atrophy” pulsates and grows, and ascends across abundant landscapes of blackened doom, death metal and black metal, mining ingredients that augment the song with awe-inducing musical richness. It epitomizes the entire album with its vast, sweeping majesty that is married to crushing intensity, ground-shaking immediacy and engrossing songwriting that is at once meticulous and without any restraint.

An impressive balance of cohesion and variety reigns within individual songs and across the album’s four tracks, with rich variety and memorability that avoids expertly the pitfalls of sameness and repetition that often plague albums operating in the long-form post-everything dimension. The gloom, nocturnal shimmer and Chris Navarro’s arresting spoken word on the first four minutes of “Dreich” are a marked difference compared with “Atrophy” and exhibit another facet of Galvanist’s compositional strengths in building and releasing tension, be it when Tanner Earhart’s gravelly howl momentarily transforms into a hissing spray when Kevin George’s bass guitar propels the song forward in a state of temporary weightlessness, a sensation that reappears for the final third of the song, initially in somber contemplation before coalescing into something hopeful and triumphant. But Galvanist are not done yet with surprises, as they proceed to kick the door off its hinges with the blistering black metal inferno of “Hauntology” that suddenly slows down into a dirge where Chris Navarro gets to confound and impress with his peculiar drumming that has a jarring elegance and mischief that seems purportedly out of sync with the rest of the band, with a tapping restlessness that itches to escape his fellow musicians. Release and climax finally arrive and the band succeeds where a lesser one would falter, in continuing the song for nearly three minutes with gradual, almost unnoticeably swelling synths and cultivated drumming that defy the allure of simple repetition ad nauseam. Those synths, joined by the choral vocals of guest singer Kat Stephens, eerily uplifting guitar leads, imbue the closing track “Spiorad” with powerful gravitas and a raging tempest at its core, coronated at the very end of lyrics with what I read as a beautiful nod to Bataille’s Acéphale, enveloped in pulses of crackling energy and followed by echoing reverberations of a lone piano. It is an excellent example of how in capable hands a song can be pulverizing while also carrying a palpable sense of optimism, self-realization and spiritual victory.  

Galvanist have wisely secured the time and space for their music to breathe and grow, without grinding the musical narrative to a disturbing halt or padding the songs with needless repetition. The combination of precision and confidence in their songwriting enables the songs to evolve with riffs, melodies, atmosphere and passages that come with instant memorability and keep revealing new textures and layers that are elevated by Kevin George’s production wizardry. This empowers the band to captivate and engorge attention spans across 10-minute songs that are dense but embellished with evocative details and fueled by riveting energy and passion. The Silence Between Stars is a magnificent tour-de-force that keeps on giving, a work of art that is massive and expansive as well as contemplative and deeply personal in equal measure, and one of the essential albums of the first half of 2026

— Zyklonius

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The Silence Between Stars will be available May 27 on Aeternitas Tenebrarum Musicae Fundamentum. For more information on Galvanist, please visit their official Facebook and Instagram pages.