The meta is extremely consistent for Mesarthim albums. A new one drops with no warning, giving no information, with a title referencing an esoteric cosmic concept. It always musically iterates on the last album but remains extremely divisive in the metal community and it always gets a nice dynamic master. The Degenerate Era is no different. It's the band's space trance metal at its finest and this time the cosmic concept refers to the cosmic era after the current one, when protons will decay leaving nothing but black holes, presumably what is shown in the album art.
Despite being the opener, the three part "Laniakea" is the album's centerpiece. The title refers to the Laniakea supercluster of galaxies, of which the Milky Way is part. The movements refer to the Great Attractor, the central gravitational point in the supercluster, the Zone of Avoidance, the portion of the cluster that is obscured from view from earth, and Dark Energy that is hypothesized to ultimately tear apart the Laniakea supercluster.
Underneath these cosmic trappings The Degenerate Era continues the shift towards more epic lead-guitar driven songs that started on Ghost Condensate while also harkening back to the more symphonic sound of .- -... ... . -. -.-. .(Absence). Track length also splits the difference between those two albums with one 14 minute suite and four tracks ranging in length from four to almost nine minutes. Though the shift and references back through the band's catalog are almost seamless, there are a few transitions on The Degenerate Era that seem to lean to far on stop time, with just a fraction of a second too much space before the next passage begins, something I didn't hear on any prior releases. It can't hold back the album's epic heights, though, with great riffs and leads and the return of pick slides giving it a weird, but great, space punk edge.
Though it's impossible to discern the actual lyrics for a Mesarthim album, there's clearly a cohesive concept. From the album title through the "Laniakea" suite to the album closer "618" (a reference to one of the largest known supermassive black holes) complete with a Morse code message spelling out "Planet Nine Located", there are mysteries yet to discover in The Degenerate Era and the dynamic master (DR 12) makes repeated listens a joy.
