A more black, cosmic, sci-fi-themed version of Valdur is where this project still lies. And now fully ascended into the cosmos with song titles like “Ophanim Mechanical Drive”, “Irreverential Cistern” and “Licentious Arbitrator” ( as opposed to the likes of “Satanic Idol Whoreship” and “Inverted Goat Orifice” from the early releases), the murky dissonance is a little more theoretically celestial than his other projects.

But like his other projects, Auscultating Astral Monuments is a dense, discordant listen with nothing memorable or catchy, just pure otherworldly filth injected with a few fitting moments of ambiance (ie “Initiative Reactor”). And while it can be generally said, most spacey/cosmic metal has a bit of celestial elegance to it, Auscultating Astral Monuments is the deep, dark unknown blackness. Tracks like standouts “The Mote in God’s Eye” and “Philotic Astrogation” (which has haunting angelic vocals), deliver a crippling, ritualistic sci-fi cacophony that isn’t an easy listen, especially with Schott’s distant howls and shrieks and growls forever present.

A surprisingly expansive number, the 5 minutes “Forever and Ever” ends the succinct 33-minute affair with the album’s most ‘listenable’ song, being a little more doomy and atmospheric, but still, the overall seraphic nausea is still strong and Sxuperion remains a very niche listen.

Whereas some side projects (again, I’m not sure which is main vs side here based on timed formed and discography) tend to be an artist’s outlet for something different to their other projects, but on this 7 song, 34 minute offering, one just has to look at Valdur’s offerings (i.e 2017s Divine Cessation or 2018s Goat of Iniquity) for a glimpse as to the sound heard on Endless Spiritual Embodiment. Oppressive, claustrophobic blackened death metal, though here it does appear to lean a bit more towards death metal.

And when I say death metal, I mean the cavernous, murky, miasmal kind of  icky death metal. Think Incantation, Miserist, Phrenelith, Golgothan Remains, etc dragged through a cosmic void between heaven and hell. It’s got those distant cavernous howls and growls and a guitar tone from the bowls of hell. There  are a few moments of swirling atmospherics that break up or lead into tracks (including a really jarring transition that explodes into “Infinite Ethereal Vault”), but for the most part, it’s a relentless tumble of blasting murk.

Case and point, the first 3 tracks “Sacred Chamber of Enlightenment” (other than a mid song lope), “Phallic Point of Periapsis” and “Negative Interior Intersection” are a nauseating caustic trio before fourth track “Supposition Course” we get a bit a respite in the song’s early stages. Then it’s back to the ritualistic vortex of “Infinite Ethereal Vault”. 10 minute closer “Endless  Embodiment” is the album’s most varied track, that could be a Valdur track , as it feels a little ‘blacker’ at times and almost feel a little like it was part of a different writing or recording session? But that could be just me.

Either way, if Hell had an elevator- this would be the music playing in it.