In recent years, the word “twilight” has taken on a negative connotation for those that value vampires, Romeo and Juliet, or even good writing and acting. Not everyone is content to let a good word be completely hijacked by Stephanie Meyer though; in fact, a stunning group of musicians has assembled under the name Twilight and done their part to take back the word with the recently-released Monument to Time End. It gets even better though: not only did Blake Judd (Nachtmystium) and Wrest (Leviathan) decide to resurrect the “Twilight” band name and bring back N. Imperial (Krieg) on vocals (they put out a self-titled album in 2005), but they somehow also brought in Stavros Giannopolous (The Atlas Moth), Sanford Parker (Minsk), and Aaron Turner (Isis). Many times, supergroup albums turn out half-baked, since everyone else already has full-time gigs demanding their attention: Monument to Time End is a jaw-dropping, experimental exception to the rule.

Considering the aforementioned names, Twilight’s sound should come as no surprise. The three returning members all come from black metal backgrounds, so black metal being the most dominant style is a no-brainer. However, by the same token, neither should it be a surprise that experimentation is a strong characteristic of the album.

One of the paths that Twilight take is to sample a variety of different styles of black metal. Things move from Darkthrone blastbeats to slower, more emphatic speeds, backed by Emperor-style electronics to give the music an epic quality. There are some fuzz sections scattered throughout the album, as well as vocals that tend to be faded back in the mix. However, what really stands out about this album is how the band switches from style to style, and the sort of non-black metal territory that it moves through.

No song on Monument is less than five minutes, but Twilight keep the lengthier tracks interesting by changing the direction of the song every two or three minutes, in the vein of Opeth. The band is able to cover so much musical ground because tracks like ‘The Cryptic Ascension’ are three songs in one. ’8,000 Years’ might very well be the best cut: it starts by pummels listeners with lots of Moog-backed double bass before slowing down to a mid-pace and bringing in some beautifully-fitting guitar work that all dissolves into some cutting distortion that N. Imperial screams over for the song’s final ten seconds. “Red Fields” is perhaps the most Moog-heavy track to be found, and mostly consists of repeated back-and-forth shifts between slower, tension-building sections and heavy, headbang-worthy parts where N. Imperial screams over the contest for superiority between guitars and Moog. To top it all off, album-closer ‘Negative Signal Omega’ sounds like what could have been if a black metal band had recorded The Wall, instead of Pink Floyd.

The fact that Twilight’s album would be called Monument is entirely fitting. The word could be applied in so many ways; the album, with all its different styles, could be a monument to black metal itself or to the innovative spirit that originally inspired the style. Perhaps though, it should be a monument to the decline of a Western culture where music of this caliber goes unnoticed. In any case, Monument to Time End is an incredible album notable both for its music and for the fact that its creators were pulled from such disparate musical backgrounds. I know it sounds far-fetched, but can you imagine what a Twilight live show would be like if everyone brought their bandmates along with them? Perhaps we’re all just better off trying to decipher all of N. Imperial’s lyrics: it might happen sooner.