Review
A star-bright ambient ascent gives way to slow acid, deep techno, and metallic electro on Aeternum (Existenz), the final movement in Function’s long Existenz cycle. Boomkat calls it an “expansive, full spectrum strafe” and hears “nocturnal pads and lustrous acid lines” carried into some of Sumner’s most romantic club music. The record’s strength is this controlled movement between suspension and propulsion: “City of Luz” stretches a heady acid pulse across twelve minutes, while “Transmutation” sharpens the mood with elegant, Sandwell District-style drive.
The emotional arc darkens without collapsing into austerity. “Growth Cycle (Hermetic Mix)” turns Detroit-leaning synths and Stefanie Parnow’s siren-like vocal into a strange, inward release; “November 29” flashes Kraftwerkian electro; “Rubedo” leaves only a slow, growling drone. A Polish critic describes the closing gesture as “Piękne pożegnanie”—“a beautiful farewell”—and that sense of closure is central: this is both a refined techno document and a deeply personal passage from darkness toward light.
