Fractal Universe – The Great Filters

Have you ever wondered if we’re alone in this world? Is there any extraterrestrial life and if yes, where are they all? Take a journey led by that primal human curiosity, provided by Fractal Universe. Their latest album “The Great Filters” explores just those themes.

The French musicians take us beyond our earthly borders to try and give answer to the Great Filter theory – could we make contact with aliens and would that mean our death as a species?

We begin the voyage with ‘The Void Above’, in which you can clearly experience the extremes which the band offers – from heavy death metal riffs to gentle melodic parts. I haven’t imagined hearing such depressing lyrics as „…we’re nothing at all…” sung so softly, with almost some acceptance behind it.

That realization was necessary to ignite the further curiosity about a greater living form and why haven’t we encountered extraterrestrial life yet in ‘The Great Filter’. This track has incredible percussions in almost hypnotic odd signatures.

Next up is ‘Causality’s Grip’, which is the second single to come out of the album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lVrlXAjHfU&ab_channel=FractalUniverse

‘The Seed of Singularity’ was the first single that hyped me up a lot about this release, especially after seeing the beautiful video. It starts with this memorable riff and grand chorus. At this point in the album, we are reaching what we are probably close to in real life too – technological singularity. The point of no return.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcAr-miYxmQ&ab_channel=FractalUniverse

What I adore about the album in general, but mostly in ‘The Equation of Abundance’ is the creating of a cosmic feeling without the obvious space synth sounds. This track is the culmination of the hypothetical scenario, the technological advance has made humanity transcend to another level. We’re finally free. Or are we?

Perhaps our ego led us to inevitable death. You can feel the pending doom in ‘Specific Obsolescence’. The tension in the sound is held up until the saxophone solo, which brings a feeling of hopelessness. From this point the song picks up a minor tone, going for what feels like one last short moment of despair before the piano outro.

That is cut by the contrasting ‘Dissecting the Real’, which starts with an almost marching step. The judgement day is here, our world as we know it is transforming violently under the sounds of heavy riffs, growls and blast beats. This is probably the heaviest song on the record.

‘Concealed’ is the last attempt for our race to save itself after the realization that we can’t fight back. What we have left is to attempt to preserve what’s left. I absolutely love the saxophone appearance in this one, accompanied by the drums.

At the end we are greeted by the great intro of ‘A New Cycle’. Some blast beats mark the dynamic new beginning. They go all in with the bubbling solo, the breakdown and the sax, which seems to have become a staple for the band since their previous release. The album ends with the lyrics:

“Given a few billion years, man might arise

Only to fall again” 

We come full circle, victims of the cyclic nature of the human condition.

“The Great Filters” is a great exploration of a question that has been inspiring astronomers, physicians, philosophers and conspiracy theorists alike. The album dives well into the matter, both lyrically and sonically. I really enjoyed dissecting it and felt very immersed in the story. To the point where I was able to forget my everyday worries by… spiraling into existential dread and worrying about other things.

Whether the intergalactical doom is close upon us or not, it is a fact that technology is developing exponentially fast and according to some experts, we might expect a technological singularity in about a decade. Our tomorrow might look drastically different than today and there might not be much we could do about it. So, in that perspective, there are greater problems pending than my overdue uni assignments. Thank you, Fractal Universe, for reminding me of that, even if that wasn’t your initial intention with writing this album.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk, now go check out “The Great Filters”!

Tracklist:

1. The Void Above
2. The Great Filter
3. Causality’s Grip
4. The Seed of Singularity
5. The Equation of Abundance
6. Specific Obsolescence
7. Dissecting the Real
8. Concealed
9. A New Cycle