Review: Elder – Through Zero
Allow me start this review with a story.
Take a trip back in time with me to October of 2019. I was 18 years old and just starting my sophomore year of college. For most of my life, I had subsisted on a steady diet of classic, bluesy, psychedelic rock, and though I loved—and still love—those bands I had been listening to, I’d been listening to them for a while. I was starting to feel like I’d heard it all and I desperately wanted something new. One fated evening during Friday Night Magic, I finished my game especially early (I think I was playing mono-red goblins) and decided to grab a burrito from the hole-in-the-wall place down the block. As I sat and ate my potato and chorizo burrito (topped, of course, with the hottest sauce they had), the most incredible music I’d heard in a while starting playing. It was bluesy, it was psychedelic, it had riffs for days, and most of all, it felt fresh. The hazy atmosphere and insurmountable wall of fuzz kept me so engaged that I felt like I never wanted to stop hearing it. As I finished my food and got up to leave, I walked over to the man at the counter. “Excuse me,” I said, “What band is this?”
”Oh, this?” the man replied, “This is Elder.”
Image via The Obelisk
For the remainder of the school year, Dead Roots Stirring was the main album in my rotation. I couldn’t get enough of the down-tuned, lumbering riffs. I branched out from there and got into bands like Sleep, Weedeater, Trouble, and Bongzilla, just to name a few. Eventually I went from stoner doom to sludge and, in time, branched out from sludge into just about everything else. Sure, I had dabbled in power metal for a spell back in high school, but ultimately I would call Elder THE band that got me into metal.
Of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean that I loved everything that Elder put out. I only really latched onto those first two records, with the others feeling a little too meandering for my caveman, riff-hungry brain. As time passed, I listened to them less and less until eventually 2020’s Omens released, which to this day I have never made it through in one sitting. I sort of felt like Elder had played their role in my life and, though I would always owe them a tremendous debt of gratitude, it was time to catch and release.
But apparently it’s true that if you love something, you should let it go.
I’ve been aware of Elder’s last few releases, but never really had the desire to check them out until a few weeks ago when, on a whim, I decided to see what I had been missing. I decided to start with 2022’s Innate Passage, and right out of the gate was pretty impressed. I love the swirling, synthy soundscapes and feel like the songs do a good job of progressing without getting too repetitive or feeling like they’re dragging on.
Through Zero—I think it’s fair to say—has all of those same strengths, and even manages to improve upon them. This record also offers something that Innate Passage was a little light on: bite. Opening track “Sigil to Ruin” starts out with a grinding bass riff played alongside an ominous-sounding, ethereal guitar part, and it serves as a really solid baseline for the rest of the album. It’s not far into the second track, “Capture/Release” that we get some good, chunky, down-tuned fun. These heavier bits serve as a really effective means of propelling the album forwards and keeping it from ever feeling like it’s running out of steam, which is an impressive feat given that almost every track on this release clocks in between 8 and 11 minutes. The great thing about it, though, is that you never feel like you’re just sitting there waiting for those parts to return so that things can progress. The softer, proggier sections hold their own and feel well thought out and like time well-spent.
Overall, I’m really impressed with Through Zero. Every single track on the record has at least one hook that stays with me after the album is over and that I can’t wait to hear again. What’s more, this release is the first that the band has produced themselves, and I love how spacious and clear everything is. I’m glad I chose to reconnect with Elder when I did. This process of getting caught up on the band’s catalogue has felt a lot like catching up with an old friend. And that friend is doing great.
4/5 Flaming Toilets ov Hell
Through Zero is out now via Stickman Records.
