Style: Atmospheric black metal, experimental black metal, industrial metal, electronic metal (Harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Labyrinthus Stellarum, Krallice, Blut aus Nord (Ethereal Horizons)
Country: Canada
Release date: 2 October 2026

---

I was one of the millions of people swept up in frenzy around the Artemis II moon mission earlier this year. While I recognize there are legitimate criticisms to be levelled at our space exploration endeavours¹, in the days leading up to the launch and during the mission itself, a certain fellowship arose in rooting for the crew to make it home safely. Every once in a while, I take a second to try and truly grasp the fact we’re all floating on a tiny ball in an unlimited and ever-expanding vacuum; the experiment is vertigo-inducing. That sense of instability and alienness—both in its literal and figurative sense—is what Endspace evokes throughout First Contact. 

Made up of the Canadian duo 102119200914 and 040118180514, the enigmatic pair shares tasks equally across First Contact, each credited with the full gamut of guitars, vocals, synthesizers and drums. While the record is Endspace’s debut, the IP-address-sounding musicians already have several albums to their name, most notably through their other shared band Fractal Generator, whose take on technical and grindy death metal is never too far behind the ostensible black metal that permeates through First Contact. Pulling from black metal’s building blocks of tremolo riffs and blast beats, Endspace elevates their sound with braaam-ing synths and death-y gallops, the latter falling somewhere between Morbid Angel and heavier Devin Townsend. 

In Carl Sagan’s novel Contact, scientists try to figure out how to fully capture an alien message-from-beyond before finally realizing it’s being blasted on repeat². Imitating Sagan’s take on otherworldly communication, Endspace also utilize a strategy of repetition to effectively establish a link with the listener. Each song is presented as a “transmission” dispatched by an extraterrestrial entity. Pick any one of the nine, and the main motif will be immediately apparent with limited deviation throughout its runtime, be it fluid finger tapping (“Second Transmission”, “Sixth Transmission”), chunky chugging (“Third Transmission”, “Seventh Transmission”), or sinister synth-ing (“Fifth Transmission, “Eight Transmission”). Doing so allows the duo to add a smorgasbord of extra layers and effects, from Predator-like clicks to electric whirs and zaps, without ever losing cohesion. While no track runs beyond five minutes, Endspace would benefit from playing with additional subtle variations in the main tapping patterns or driving riffs to better carry entire songs. 

Instruments and effects are muddied together in a way that portrays interference and the instability of such extreme long-range communication. The density of so many elements fighting for space within a narrow production delivers a listening experience that burrows into the mind. Generally, this works in Endspace’s favour to convince the listener of the band’s concept, but makes for a loud and demanding listen. Billed as “music that sounds as if it’s emanating from beings on some distant planet”, Endspace’s arrangement across First Contact’s 39 minutes creates a bite-sized version of Darkspace’s hypnotic, swirling, and frigid atmosphere by way of Thorns’ mechanical sharpness, while not quite living up to the grandeur of the former, nor the energy of the latter. 

“Fifth Transmission” stands out for leaning most heavily into electronica, and sounds like something all the Klingon kids are listening to nowadays. The track introduces rave-y, dark wave-y synths, mostly eschewing anything considered metal except for a thumping bass drum and a 30-second marching riff. Other industrial-tinged hisses, glitches, beeps, and chirps complement First Contact’s atmosphere, though they sometimes come off less “space” and more “cyberpunk”. The tail end of “Seventh Transmission” is one of the few moments where these electronic effects come into focus. The track chugs along nicely before giving way to an extended blast beat, only for clichéd blips and beeps to rise up without rhyme or reason. Endspace clearly has the skill to experiment with strange sounds, and a bit more intention behind the chosen palette of effects would enhance future worldbuilding. 

Gazing at iconic images like Earthrise, Blue Marble, and Pale Blue Dot, along with the stunning visuals from the Artemis II mission, invites us to ponder the cosmos’ beautiful expanse, its wonder and possibility. Endspace is here to remind us that space is the harshest of mistresses, a realm of confounding chaos and that, in truth, we actually have no fucking idea what’s out there. One likely only needs a minute or two to know whether they’ll want to power through the entirety of First Contact. Some of the electronics verge on gimmicky, the motifs are repetitive, and everything bleeds together under suffocated, and thus, suffocating production. And yet, this vexing concoction augments Endspace’s concept, making for a record where the daring listener can get lost not in space’s mystique, but in its mercilessness.

---

Recommended tracks: Second Transmission, Fourth Transmission, Ninth Transmission
You may also like: Darkspace, Aborym, Thorns, Imperialist
Final verdict: 6/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram

Label: Transcending Obscurity Records

Endspace is:
– 102119200914 (vocals, guitars, synthesizers and drums)
– 040118180514 (vocals, guitars, synthesizers and drums)

1. The financial cost, climate implications, and growing cost-of-living crisis that people are facing, just to name a few… ↩︎
2. Things expand from there obviously, but Sagan spends a good amount of time on the technicalities of registering long-range frequencies and the difficulties that come in capturing a signal emanating from a single point as our planet rotates. Decent novel, but way fewer aliens than I was expecting. ↩︎