ALBUM REVIEW: Esox Lucifer – 10,000 Years
With their last album, 2024’s All Quiet On The Final Frontier, Swedish stoner behemoths 10,000 YEARS made one of the albums of the year with the riff and groove heavy opus and very deservedly got the plaudits for it. That album proved just how powerful a band they had developed into, and where they would go next was a tantalising prospect indeed.
Now two years later, and those questions have been answered as the band have upped the stakes once again with their brand new album Esox Lucifer, and this one sees 10,000 YEARS make another bold statement of groove laden intent. They take what they had built on with its predecessor and amp it up tenfold, the results are never anything but stunning. From start to finish, this record sounds like the band are having the time of their lives as they let loose on a thunderous collection of stoner anthems.
10,000 YEARS don’t waste any time in confidently setting the scene here and the vibes are high as the stirring instrumental Pursuit Special, which, with its driving grooves is an aptly named piece of music, opens up proceedings and before you know it, they crash into the next track, Fleur De Sledgehammer. Here, the band unleash a seamless electric energy, and as the flowing vocals mix with the pounding riffs and heavy drums, it is clear that 10,000 YEARS have upped even their heady game here.
From that strong start, the band go from strength to strength with Church Of The Red Museum and Alien Tactics, seeing the band firing on all cylinders. This builds before the immediate power of Two Million Stones hits you with the force of the minerals that make up the title of the song. Here, you are swept up in a hazy swathe of dreamlike riffs and commanding and enchanting rhythms, and that mixture is the real beauty and power of the music of 10,000 YEARS.
Esox Lucifer concludes with the angst laden heaviness of Paranoidium before the thunderous and titanium heavy title track of the album finishes things on a stellar level, and as the last notes ring off into the ether, you can bask in how good of an album this is. The only slightly downside here is the brevity of the album, but this is only a minor point and it’s better than it overstaying its welcome.
10,000 YEARS have an album in Esox Lucifer that they can rightly be proud of. Here, they demonstrate once again their ability to create and execute riff heavy soundscapes that will consume your soul with ease. It is fantastic to have 10,000 YEARS back again, delivering the goods as only they can.
Rating: 8/10
Esox Lucifer is out now via Ripple Music.
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