Released in 2022, The Lethean by Xaon has been described by those who review these sorts of records as their magnum opus, and it is difficult to argue otherwise.

This is an album that is so gigantic it would need a double wide seat on an aeroplane to make its arse comfortable, and if you were the one trapped there with it, squished next to the window on this theoretical plane ride, you wouldn’t give a shit, as even though The Lethean has more crushing weight to it than two planets colliding, it is mixed with such beauty and grace that you would eagerly suffocate under its sweaty armpit.

This album is so fucking huge, so fucking spectacular, and so fucking grandiose that it takes the genre of Atmospheric Melodic Blackend Death Metal, chews it up and spits it out. It rewrites the book, mixing so many different styles across its 10 tracks that it transcends the metal genre and becomes classical music. And no, I’m not joking.

The Lethean is a modern opera. Admittedly a modern opera with pounding drums, burning guitars, and throat shredding vocals, but a modern opera nonetheless. There is so much going on underneath all of this, with sweeping string sections that dance around the riffs being laid down and choral voices crying to the heavens like angels, that is impossible to call this just metal. At its heart? Sure. But it’s soul, well that belongs to the likes of Mozart and Beethoven.

This is one of the most spectacular pieces of music I have ever heard. Period. No matter the genre. No matter the bands and artists I have absorbed across my five plus decades on this planet. I have never, ever, heard anything like The Lethean by Xaon.

This belongs in the fucking Louvre. It’s a work of fucking art.

Head on over to the Xaon Bandcamp page and get yourself a copy of this masterpiece and thank me by leaving me your first born in your will. It’s that fucking good.