Mobius: Stars In The Universe’s Soul
Given the absolute breadth of creativity within progressive metal as of late, it’s no surprise that emerging talent have to go and above beyond to craft a sound that is as refreshing as it is captivating. It’s a massive challenge and to get the balance just right can push a band to their very limits. Capitalising on the early promise shown on 2016’s The Line, French quintet MOBIUS intend to reach new heights with sophomore effort Kala.
A spiritually driven offering of expansive progressive metal, their new offering isn’t just the next logical step upwards in the career, it is an album that intends to ascend higher, to explore mankind’s connection to a wider universe and to challenge our fundamental understanding of death. “The writing process of Kala had an impact on me. The concepts and the images I developed in Kala are actually my thoughts about death. I am a very cartesian person. But thinking about how we are linked to nature and the universe, as pieces of it, made me think about many beautiful and spiritual images,” vocalist Heli Andrea tells us.
“Now, I really think that we are more connected to nature than we think, and we all have a place on Earth. I think that after death, our body (at least) goes back to nature, or universe, in a way or another. Either it is buried and feed the plants and animals, or burnt and the water and ashes go in the atmosphere. In one way or another, we feed the environment around us, and turn into biodiversity. This idea of recycling is a beautiful idea, and I’m less afraid of what will happen after I’ll die.”
Being afraid of death is nothing out of the ordinary. Death comes for us all and the very fact that mankind can do literally nothing to prevent it, despite our best efforts, puts our mortality at the very epicentre to our questions about life and the greater universe. It’s a subject matter, albeit bleak, that captures the very essence of humanity and with it lying at the core of Kala‘s lyrical journey, it makes the album one in which should connect with every human being on the planet. It’s just a concept Heli and her bandmates wanted to focus on for the sake of asking big questions, the source of this album’s lyrical inspiration came from a very personal place.
“Two years ago, I experienced the loss of my half sister’s father. He died alone in his apartment, and the way he passed away and all what happened before and after made me think about many things,” Heli explains. “At this moment, I was reading a lot about Asian and Indian cultures and their spirituality, to find a mood for the coming album. As we wanted to create an album inspired by Asian music, I wanted to understand it a bit more. So, I decided to use this personal experience, this loss, as the beginning of a concept. I mixed the inspiration I was getting in the books and images, and the questions and thoughts this death brought to me, and I put all of this in a kind of spiritual and mystic atmosphere that I loved. So, I would say this album is much more poetic, shining than the first one, and I just try to express how I feel things.”
Heli has made an intriguing point about the underlying inspiration for Kala; a heavy Asian and Indian influence had a direct impact on the album the band have created. From a lyrical perspective, themes of reincarnation, rebirth and explosive vitality are explored and even the album title, Kala, is the Sanskrit word for ‘time’ whilst on a musical front, oriental flourishes intertwine with MOBIUS‘ Western progressive tendencies. It’s a difficult balance to get right, but one in which MOBIUS have excelled at. You’d assume that the Eastern influence has been a core of the band’s sound since their inception, but keyboardist Guillaume Deveaux says otherwise, “actually, I don’t think that it was a conscious choice to incorporate elements of Eastern music to our songs. I’m not even sure we call eastern music a part of MOBIUS,” he says. “It sure is a part of Kala, but that’s all we can say today I guess. When Adrien [Brunet, drums] proposed the first three songs inspired by Hinduism and Indian music at large, every one agreed to follow that direction because it was uncharted and inspiring territory for all of us (in terms of vocals or compositional techniques, and in terms of instruments). I think its our shared curiosity, and our eclectic music tastes, that allow Eastern music to have that significant part in our music today.”
Of course, given the album’s theological questions surrounding death, it would be easy for MOBIUS and everyone who listens to the album to wallow in the inevitability of death. But Kala isn’t that style of album, it’s an album that feels uplifting and cathartic, the musical embodiment of reaching out into the stars to ask the greater questions. And as Heli concludes, it’s a sombre note, one in which surely will relieve any lingering fears of existential dread. “One of my favourite sentence in the album is this one, from Abhinivesha: ‘we’re stars in the universe’s soul’. I think we are so much more than we can think. We have no idea about the impact we have on the others and on nature. And if sometimes we can feel bad, guilt, pain, we are amazing also. We’re a part of the cycle, and we are capable of beautiful things. We are a part of nature, of humanity, of the universe.”
Kala is out now via self-release.
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