Reptilian Illuminati formed in 2016 in the land down under Australia. The band is influenced by a wide variety of artists like Pallbearer, Ahab, This Will Destroy You and Pink Floyd. The band is comprised of Matthew Brennan – Guitar, Terry Pietrosanto – Guitar, Dean Astrella – Guitar, Dexter Karpe – Bass, and Matty Innes – Drums. Reptilian Illuminati is an instrumental band that brings a wide range of elements into their music including historical samples which attributes to the concept of the album. ‘Dark/Light’ is their debut album and is also a concept album based on UFO phenomena. Using speeches and audio clips as historical clues and some spacey riffs and beats at times the album is truly cohesive. ‘Dark/Light’ was recorded at Brown Lounge Studios Engineered by drummer Matty Innes Mixed by Matty Innes and Michael Marinucci Mastered by Chris Themelco at Monolith Studios. The album released on September 1st, 2017 and is available on Bandcamp here and you can stream below.The band has also released a music video for the track “Valentich” which was filmed and edited by Lewi Haskins at Sonder Media. It’s an amazing video that has beautiful naturalistic imagery and then turns to the sky and shows it with a kaleidoscope effect that is simply amazing.
‘Dark/Light’ begins with the track ‘Roswell, N.M. 1947’. Leading into the song we get a sample of some historical context based on the alien obsessed city of Roswell, New Mexico. The song then leads into some somber guitar strumming before truly kicking into some heavy reverb and cords around the 2 minute mark. The heaviness comes and goes on this track, sticking around for moments then slowly immigrating back to the single somber guitar strumming. It’s on incredible opening track that has a minimalist feel but comes across with some large vibrant sounds. “Fire In The Sky” is the longest track on the album. It crawls through the first few minutes of the track in a very drone or sludgy manner. Growling riffs surround you and then it kicks in with some guitar parts and more treble based guitar harmonies. Again on this track you get some samples which give the song/album some historical context which attributes this album being a concept album. As you will hear, all the samples and titles of the tracks refer to instances of UFO phenomena. “Groom Lake” has to be one of my favorite tracks on the album. It begins with this really ambient guitar strumming and develops into much more. It eases you into the heaviness. The album is instrumental, but it doesn’t leave you hungry for vocals. The constant changing tempo and rhythmic styling the band has keeps you on your toes. The samples included are intriguing and somewhat fill the void left from there being no vocals. I personally find concept albums very entertaining as long as they aren’t overly forced with whatever the subject matter is. Reptilian Illuminati has delicately placed these samples and composed music around them so that they fit perfectly together like a puzzle. If you are a fan of doom with a touch of drone elements or you are curious about extraterrestrials you will absolutely love this album. Reptilian Illuminati reached for the sky with this album and ended up in the stars.
Check out their video for “Valentich” below as well as the full stream of the album.
