2007 February
Vision Éternel was formed in the tears of late nights. As love was not permitted, songs were created. And thus were born the firsts of this vision. Éternel creates concepts within all creations, and once done releases masterpieces of beauty.
2007 May 12th
Vision Éternel is an ethereal wave band by Virkelix. It’s creations are compiled in masterpieces called concept albums. The debut EP “Seul Dans L’obsession” came out on Mortification Records in February of 2007, under the Triskalyon banner (a group of bands working together). A music video was shot as a semi single for promotional use and for fans to have something to go with the music.
In May of 2007 some demos were given to fans of the upcoming EP. It is to be a follow-up to the first release, also as a concept album, but with a different story.
The releases are available for download on the bands website. Virkelix has stated that he does not wish to make money from his music, but rather let everyone hear the emotions he transcripted.
2008 November 15th
Vision Éternel is an ambient/ethereal band by Virkelix. It’s creations are compiled in masterpieces called concept albums. The debut ep “Seul Dans L’obsession” came out on Mortification Records in February of 2007, under the Triskalyon banner. A music video was shot for the single “”Love Within Narcosis””, and released solely with the online promotion.
In March of 2008 the second ep, “Un Automne En Solitude” was released once again on Mortification Records It is to be a follow-up to the first release, also as a concept album, but with a different story.
In early 2009 both of these previously mentioned EPs will be released together with bonus material as “An Anthology of Past Misfortunes” on Frozen Veins Records. This limited press compilation will feature unreleased material and a special designed booklet explaining the concepts of the releases.
The band is currently working on a split release with Ethereal Beauty due out in 2009 on Abridged Pause Recordings.
2009 May 31st
Vision Éternel is an ambient/ethereal band by Virkelix. It’s creations are compiled in masterpieces considered concept albums. The debut ep “Seul Dans L’obsession” came out on Mortification Records in February of 2007, under the Triskalyon banner. A music video was shot for the single “Love Within Narcosis”, and released solely with the online promotion.
In March of 2008 the second ep, “Un Automne En Solitude” was released once again on Mortification Records It is a follow-up to the first release, also as a concept album, but with a different story. The song “Season in Absence” was released as a digital single.
In February 2009 both of the previously mentioned EPs were be released together as “An Anthology of Past Misfortunes” on Frozen Veins Records. The compilation was pressed in limited quantify and featured unreleased material, a specially designed booklet which explains the concepts of the releases and a poster.
In the summer of 2009, Winterreich Productions will reissue “Seul Dans L’obsession” and “Un Automne En Solitude” on cassette tape with brand new artwork.
The band is currently working on a series of splits with Ethereal Beauty and Tasharg, both which are due out on Abridged Pause Recordings.
2009 Autumn
Vision Éternel is a band used to distribute the emotions left over by a past that ended hurtfully. Each release is a concept of a period and the phases which occurred. The idea originally started in January 2007, when a few songs were written one night, and differed from the bands I was in at the time. The first EP “Seul dans l’obsession” came out on February 14th of that year (on Mortification Records), and a music video was made for the song “Love within Narcosis”, which was the first single. “Love within Isolation” would be used a few months later as a second (semi) -single.
In June 2007, I began working on the second EP “Un automne en solitude”. The first single “Season in Desperation” was released in late August for online promotion, prior to the EP being released. In February 2008 “Season in Absence” was finally released as the second single and on March 14th, 2008 the mini album came out, also on Mortification Records.
It was during this time that I decided to test out expanding VE into a full band. The first person to try out was Phil Altobelli (who was known as Darklink in Triskalyon). Well his foreign collaboration didn’t last very long. Finally I landed on Nidal Mourad and Adam Kennedy, who joined as acoustic guitarist and solo-ist, respectively. This was the most creative pairing so far, but only managed to re-work two songs, before splitting up.
Through out the year “Un automne en solitude” got to many ears and finally landed on someone on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. A compilation had been an idea for some time but it wasn’t until Frozen Veins Records offered me the opportunity to do it with them that it became an actual plan. The work has paid off and “An Anthology of Past Misfortunes” was released on February 14th 2009, as a two year commemorative to the first release. It contains both EPs (Seul dans l’obsession & Un automne en solitude) along with additional unreleased material and a poster. The package pressed in a limited quantity of 100.
In late spring I began looking for another way to make something special out of the material that I had recorded under VE, and came in contact with a label from Australia, who was interested in releasing both EPs on cassette tapes. Everything was made ready for June 2009, however nothing ever happened and the plans were dropped. The idea is still floating and I am looking for an interested label to work with. In the meanwhile I am now working on the third EP which will hopefully come out in early 2010.
2010 January 27th
Vision Éternel is an ambient/ethereal band by Virkelix. It’s creations are compiled in masterpieces considered concept albums. The debut ep “Seul Dans L’obsession” came out on Mortification Records in February of 2007, under the Triskalyon banner. A music video was shot for the single “Love Within Narcosis”, and released solely with the online promotion.
In March of 2008 the second ep, “Un Automne En Solitude” was released once again on Mortification Records It is a follow-up to the first release, also as a concept album, but with a different story. The song “Season in Absence” was released as a digital single.
In February 2009 both of the previously mentioned EPs were be released together as “An Anthology of Past Misfortunes” on Frozen Veins Records. The compilation was pressed in limited quantifies and featured unreleased material, a specially designed booklet which explains the concepts of the releases and a poster.
In February 2010, the third ep “Abondance de Périls” was released on Abridged Pause Recordings.
2010 February 22nd
Vision Éternel is an ambient/ethereal band by Virkelix. It’s creations are compiled in masterpieces considered concept albums. The debut ep “Seul dans l’obsession” came out on Mortification Records in February of 2007, under the Triskalyon banner. A music video was shot for the single “Love within Narcosis”, and released solely with the online promotion.
In March of 2008 the second ep, “Un automne en solitude” was released once again on Mortification Records It is a follow-up to the first release, also as a concept album, but with a different story. The song “Season in Absence” was released as a digital single.
In February 2009 both of the previously mentioned EPs were be released together as “An Anthology of Past Misfortunes” on Frozen Veins Records. The compilation was pressed in limited quantities and featured unreleased material, a specially designed booklet which explains the concepts of the releases and a poster.
The promotion for the third ep was started in February 2010 with Virkelix releasing to the public a rehearsal dating from November 30th, 2009 exclusively on Bandcamp, for free download. In March 2010, the third ep, “Abondance de périls”, was released on Abridged Pause Recordings. The first single is “Thoughts as Naïvety”, though no video has been planned for the song yet.
2010 September 18th
Vision Éternel is a melogaze (they invented the term/genre to describe their music more appropriately) band by Virkelix. It’s creations are compiled in masterpieces considered concept albums. The debut ep “Seul dans l’obsession” came out on Mortification Records in February of 2007, under the Triskalyon banner. A music video was shot for the single “Love within Narcosis”, and released solely with the online promotion.
In March of 2008 the second ep, “Un automne en solitude” was released once again on Mortification Records It is a follow-up to the first release, also as a concept album, but with a different story. The song “Season in Absence” was released as a digital single.
In February 2009 both of the previously mentioned EPs were be released together as “An Anthology of Past Misfortunes” on Frozen Veins Records. The compilation was pressed in limited quantities and featured unreleased material, a specially designed booklet which explains the concepts of the releases and a poster.
The promotion for the third ep was started in February 2010 with Virkelix releasing to the public a rehearsal dating from November 30th, 2009 exclusively on Bandcamp, for free download. In March 2010, the third ep, “Abondance de périls”, was released on Abridged Pause Recordings. The first single is “Thoughts as Naïvety”, though no video has been planned for the song yet.
2010 September 19th
Vision Éternel is a melogaze band by Virkelix. It’s creations are compiled in masterpieces considered concept albums. The debut ep “Seul dans l’obsession” came out on Mortification Records in February of 2007, under the Triskalyon banner. A music video was shot for the single “Love within Narcosis”, and released solely with the online promotion.
In March of 2008 the second ep, “Un automne en solitude” was released once again on Mortification Records It is a follow-up to the first release, also as a concept album, but with a different story. The song “Season in Absence” was released as a digital single.
In February 2009 both of the previously mentioned EPs were be released together as “An Anthology of Past Misfortunes” on Frozen Veins Records. The compilation was pressed in limited quantities and featured unreleased material, a specially designed booklet which explains the concepts of the releases and a poster.
The promotion for the third ep was started in February 2010 with Virkelix releasing to the public a rehearsal dating from November 30th, 2009 exclusively on Bandcamp, for free download. In March 2010, the third ep, “Abondance de périls”, was released on Abridged Pause Recordings. The first single is “Thoughts as Naïvety”, though no video has been planned for the song yet.
2011 September 21st
Vision Éternel is a melogaze band by Virkelix (who is also doing Soufferance. It’s creations are compiled in masterpieces considered concept albums. The debut ep “Seul dans l’obsession” came out on Mortification Records in February of 2007, under the Triskalyon banner. A music video was shot for the single “Love within Narcosis”, and released solely with the online promotion.
In March of 2008 the second ep, “Un automne en solitude” was released once again on Mortification Records It is a follow-up to the first release, also as a concept album, but with a different story. The song “Season in Absence” was released as a digital single.
In February 2009 both of the previously mentioned EPs were be released together as “An Anthology of Past Misfortunes” on Frozen Veins Records. The compilation was pressed in limited quantities and featured unreleased material, a specially designed booklet which explains the concepts of the releases and a poster.
The promotion for the third ep was started in February 2010 with Virkelix releasing to the public a rehearsal dating from November 30th, 2009 exclusively on Bandcamp, for free download. In March 2010, the third ep, “Abondance de périls”, was released on Abridged Pause Recordings. The first single is “Thoughts as Naïvety”, though no video has been planned for the song yet.
2012 March 6th
Vision Éternel is a melogaze band by Alexandre Julien (who is also doing Soufferance. It’s creations are compiled in masterpieces considered concept albums. The debut ep “Seul dans l’obsession” came out on Mortification Records in February of 2007, under the Triskalyon banner. A music video was shot for the single “Love within Narcosis”, and released solely with the online promotion.
In March of 2008 the second ep, “Un automne en solitude” was released once again on Mortification Records It is a follow-up to the first release, also as a concept album, but with a different story. The song “Season in Absence” was released as a digital single.
In February 2009 both of the previously mentioned EPs were be released together as “An Anthology of Past Misfortunes” on Frozen Veins Records. The compilation was pressed in limited quantities and featured unreleased material, a specially designed booklet which explains the concepts of the releases and a poster.
The promotion for the third ep was started in February 2010 with Alexandre Julien releasing to the public a rehearsal dating from November 30th, 2009 exclusively on Bandcamp, for free download. In March 2010, the third ep, “Abondance de périls”, was released on Abridged Pause Recordings. The first single is “Thoughts as Naïvety”, though no video has been planned for the song yet.
On March 14th 2012, Vision Éternel released their 4th EP on Abridged Pause Recordings entitled “The Last Great Torch Song”.
2012 August 12th
Vision Éternel is a melogaze band by Alexandre Julien (who is also doing Soufferance). It’s creations are compiled as concept albums. The debut ep “Seul dans l’obsession” came out on Mortification Records in February of 2007, under the Triskalyon banner. A music video was shot for the single “Love within Narcosis”, and released solely with the online promotion.
In March of 2008 the second ep, “Un automne en solitude” was released once again on Mortification Records It is a follow-up to the first release, also as a concept album, but with a different story. The song “Season in Absence” was released as a digital single.
In February 2009 both of the previously mentioned EPs were be released together as “An Anthology of Past Misfortunes” on Frozen Veins Records. The compilation was pressed in limited quantities and featured unreleased material, a specially designed booklet which explains the concepts of the releases and a poster.
The promotion for the third ep was started in February 2010 with Alexandre Julien releasing to the public a rehearsal dating from November 30th, 2009 exclusively on Bandcamp, for free download. In March 2010, the third ep, “Abondance de périls”, was released on Abridged Pause Recordings. The first single is “Thoughts as Naïvety”, though no video has been planned for the song yet.
On March 14th 2012, Vision Éternel released their 4th EP on Abridged Pause Recordings entitled “The Last Great Torch Song”.
2015 February 28th
Vision Éternel is a melogaze band by Alexandre Julien (who is also doing Soufferance). It’s creations are compiled as concept albums. The debut ep “Seul dans l’obsession” came out on Mortification Records in February of 2007, under the Triskalyon banner. A music video was shot for the single “Love within Narcosis”, and released solely with the online promotion.
In March of 2008 the second ep, “Un automne en solitude” was released once again on Mortification Records It is a follow-up to the first release, also as a concept album, but with a different story. The song “Season in Absence” was released as a digital single.
In February 2009 both of the previously mentioned EPs were be released together as “An Anthology of Past Misfortunes” on Frozen Veins Records. The compilation was pressed in limited quantities and featured unreleased material, a specially designed booklet which explains the concepts of the releases and a poster.
The promotion for the third ep was started in February 2010 with Alexandre Julien releasing to the public a rehearsal dating from November 30th, 2009 exclusively on Bandcamp, for free download. In March 2010, the third ep, “Abondance de périls”, was released on Abridged Pause Recordings. The first single is “Thoughts as Naïvety”, though no video has been planned for the song yet.
On March 14th 2012, Vision Éternel released their 4th EP on Abridged Pause Recordings entitled “The Last Great Torch Song”. The album featured a great deal of guest appearances and was rumored to be the last Vision Éternel release.
In October of 2014, Vision Éternel hinted that a new album was in the works. It was officially revealed in December through the Abridged Pause Recordings website. On February 14th of 2015, Vision Éternel released its 5th EP “Echoes From Forgotten Hearts”. It was initially written as a soundtrack but after the film’s producer flaked out and fled with the money, Alexandre Julien decided to release the music as a new Vision Éternel album.
2017 February 16th
Vision Éternel is a melogaze band based in Montreal, Canada, which has over the past 10 years, been crafting a style of its own and established itself in the ambient, shoegaze and post-rock scenes. Being too emotional for the ambient genre, too minimalist for the post-rock scene and too ethereal for the emo revivalists, songwriter Alexandre Julien eventually coined a new term; “melogaze”.
Melogaze has been described as a perfect blend of shoegaze and melodrama. Alexandre has painstakingly collected emotions from past heartbreaks and redistributed them into concept albums. Each Vision Éternel release has been a concept album, dedicated to a different phase of love; usually the one that is dreaded by most… having to move on.
Vision Éternel was founded by Alexandre Julien in January of 2007. Initially, the band was part of the Triskalyon collective; a group of bands with common beliefs who shared band members and had their own record label, Mortification Records. And so Vision Éternel was immediately signed to Mortification Records and the band’s debut EP, “Seul Dans L’obsession”, was released less than a month later on February 14th of 2007. “Seul Dans L’obsession” was a concept extended play and depicted several phases relating to love; from meeting a girl and falling in love, to the troubled relationship and the break-up, to finally having to painfully move on.
A music video was filmed for the single, “Love Within Narcosis” and was promoted exclusively on YouTube throughout the first half of 2007. A second single was released in the summer of 2007 for “Love Within Isolation”, and helped Vision Éternel peak on the independent Myspace charts; reaching No. 6 on the Shoegaze charts and No. 21 on the Ambient charts. To this day, “Seul Dans L’obsession” remains the best-selling and most downloaded release on Mortification Records.
Beginning in the summer of 2007, Alexandre experimented with the idea of expanding the band to include other members. The first person to try out was Philip Altobelli, who had been a member of Triskalyon with his solo project Darklink. But Philip only lasted a brief time in the band. When he left the band, he also gave up playing electric guitar completely and dedicated himself to classical guitar, an instrument and style he today teaches professionally. In October of 2007, Josh McConnell performed with Vision Éternel for a single rehearsal. Josh was a heavy metal musician who played in the Montreal heavy metal band Mad Parish and sang in the Iron Maiden cover band Brave New World. His style was so drastically different from Vision Éternel’s that things did not work out.
It was in January of 2008 that Alexandre struck luck. Vision Éternel was joined by Nidal Mourad on acoustic rhythm guitar and Adam Kennedy on lead electric guitar, performing solos. Nidal had formerly sang in the Alberta metalcore band Natesment, while Adam was from the Ottawa region and had dabbled in hard rock, hip hop and electronics, performing under the names AK & Lord V and Orpheus. This successful trio managed to re-work two Vision Éternel songs into post-rock/indie rock-sounding material.
But Nidal left after a few weeks, and Alexandre decided to continue the band as a solo project. Since leaving Vision Éternel, Nidal has become a successful DJ, performing under the name Ziko Ghost. As for Adam, he established himself as a multi-instrumentalist producer and studio engineer. He has played in Beyond the Dune Sea, 1993, Acid Cross, Owl Eyes Project and Wake the Wolf. He also opened his own recording studio, Vital Philosophy.
On March 14th of 2008, “Un Automne En Solitude”, the second Vision Éternel EP, was released through Mortification Records. This extended play continued along the concept initiated with “Seul Dans L’obsession”. But Alexandre elaborated on it to incorporate a theme from Alfred Hitchcock’s “Vertigo”; the story of “man meets woman, man loses woman, man meets woman again, man loses woman again”. The sophomore extended play featured the single “Season In Absence”, which landed two music videos; one directed by Niels Geybels (who has played in the dark ambient band Sequences, has designed many artworks under his company Depraved Designs, and presently owns the record label Audio.Visuals.Atmosphere), and another directed by Alexandre Julien.
In the summer of 2008, Vision Éternel announced a split 7″ vinyl with the Californian post-rock band Ethereal Beauty. This release was highly promoted for several years but it was eventually cancelled when Ethereal Beauty broke up in 2010. In September of 2008, Vision Éternel was signed to Abridged Pause Recordings, as part of the record label’s initial four bands on the roster. The other three bands were Ethereal Beauty, Dreams of the Drowned and Black Autumn.
On February 14th of 2009, exactly two years after “Seul Dans L’obsession” was released, a Japanese exclusive compilation was released. “An Anthology Of Past Misfortunes”, which compiled the first two EPs with three unreleased b-sides, was released through Frozen Veins Records and came bundled with a poster.
Vision Éternel’s first release through Abridged Pause Recordings was unveiled on March 9th of 2010 with the band’s third EP. “Abondance De Périls” was mastered by ex-band member Adam Kennedy and was released on the same date as Beyond the Dune Sea’s self-titled debut album, Adam Kennedy’s new project, also signed to Abridged Pause Recordings. Beginning with this third EP, Vision Éternel’s sound began to mature. This release spanned two singles; a limited edition, Bandcamp-exclusive promotional download for “Rehearsal November 30th, 2009” and the proper single for “Thoughts As Naïvety”.
A follow-up to “Abondance De Périls” entitled “The Last Great Torch Song” was released on March 14th of 2012 through Abridged Pause Recordings. This fourth extended play featured a slew of guest musicians and collaborators including Garry Brents (of Cara Neir, Parabstruse, Bunrage, and many others), Eiman Nejad (of Mutiny Within, Eliminator, Antiquity, Arcanum, Beneath The Dead Ring, Brainscan, Intifada SS and Unblessed), Howard Change (of Throne of Mortality, Black Albatross, Funeral Junkie, Arcanum and Valleys of the Living), Alexander Fawcett (of Oceanus, Arboretus, Esuna and Sleepless Dreams) and Marina Polak.
Following “The Last Great Torch Song”, Vision Éternel remained quiet while Alexandre worked on other projects. In the summer of 2014, Vision Éternel was approached to compose the soundtrack to a short film. Alexandre composed a soundtrack highly influenced by Clint Mansell’s “Moon” score. But the film’s producer, writer and director vanished with the entire funds for the project, leaving the material unreleased. Instead, the soundtrack was edited, re-recorded and re-conceptualized into Vision Éternel’s fifth EP, “Echoes From Forgotten Hearts”. This EP was released through Abridged Pause Recordings on February 14th of 2015.
Vision Éternel is now celebrating its 10-year anniversary in 2017. To promote this, several surprises have been planned for the year. The first of these will be the long-anticipated boxed set, “An Anthology Of Past Misfortunes”, which will present most of the EPs in physical format for the first time. Additional merchandise will be also be released.
Disclaimer: Though Vision Éternel has strong ties in the metal and ambient scenes, Vision Éternel has no political nor religious affiliations. Vision Éternel is atheist, nihilistic and narcissistic, and prefers associating with nature and animals rather than with civilization and society.
Alexandre Julien has also played in Les Rocker’s (1999), The Slopin Fairy 7 (2002-2004), The Tom & Alex Project (2003), Scapegoat (2004), Throne of Mortality (2005-2007), Projection Mina (2006-2007), Soufferance (2006-Present), Vision Solitude (2006-2009), Vision Lunar (2006-2007, 2007-2009, 2015-Present), Gallia Fornax (2007), Human Infect (2007-2008), Green Territory (2007), Lanterns Awake (2008-2011), Éphémère (2010, 2015), Murder on Redpath (2010-2011) and Citadel Swamp (2011-Present).
2018 February 14th
Vision Éternel is a melogaze band based in Montreal, Canada, which has over the past 11 years, been crafting a style of its own and established itself in the ambient, shoegaze and post-rock scenes. Being too emotional for the ambient genre, too minimalist for the post-rock scene and too ethereal for the emo revivalists, songwriter Alexandre Julien eventually coined a new term; “melogaze”.
Melogaze has been described as a perfect blend of shoegaze and melodrama. Alexandre has painstakingly collected emotions from past heartbreaks and redistributed them into concept albums. Each Vision Éternel release has been a concept album, dedicated to a different phase of love; usually the one that is dreaded by most… having to move on.
Vision Éternel was founded by Alexandre Julien in January of 2007. Initially, the band was part of the Triskalyon collective; a group of bands with common beliefs who shared band members and had their own record label, Mortification Records. And so Vision Éternel was immediately signed to Mortification Records and the band’s debut EP, “Seul Dans L’obsession”, was released less than a month later on February 14th of 2007. “Seul Dans L’obsession” was a concept extended play and depicted several phases relating to love; from meeting a girl and falling in love, to the troubled relationship and the break-up, to finally having to painfully move on.
A music video was filmed for the single, “Love Within Narcosis” and was promoted exclusively on YouTube throughout the first half of 2007. A second single was released in the summer of 2007 for “Love Within Isolation”, and helped Vision Éternel peak on the independent Myspace charts; reaching No. 6 on the Shoegaze charts and No. 21 on the Ambient charts. To this day, “Seul Dans L’obsession” remains the best-selling and most downloaded release on Mortification Records.
Beginning in the summer of 2007, Alexandre experimented with the idea of expanding the band to include other members. The first person to try out was Philip Altobelli, who had been a member of Triskalyon with his solo project Darklink. But Philip only lasted a brief time in the band. When he left the band, he also gave up playing electric guitar completely and dedicated himself to classical guitar, an instrument and style he today teaches professionally. In October of 2007, Josh McConnell performed with Vision Éternel for a single rehearsal. Josh was a heavy metal musician who played in the Montreal heavy metal band Mad Parish and sang in the Iron Maiden cover band Brave New World. His style was so drastically different from Vision Éternel’s that things did not work out.
It was in January of 2008 that Alexandre struck luck. Vision Éternel was joined by Nidal Mourad on acoustic rhythm guitar and Adam Kennedy on lead electric guitar, performing solos. Nidal had formerly sang in the Alberta metalcore band Natesment, while Adam was from the Ottawa region and had dabbled in hard rock, hip hop and electronics, performing under the names AK & Lord V and Orpheus. This successful trio managed to re-work two Vision Éternel songs into post-rock/indie rock-sounding material.
But Nidal left after a few weeks, and Alexandre decided to continue the band as a solo project. Since leaving Vision Éternel, Nidal has become a successful DJ, performing under the name Ziko Ghost. As for Adam, he established himself as a multi-instrumentalist producer and studio engineer. He has played in Beyond the Dune Sea, 1993, Acid Cross, Owl Eyes Project and Wake the Wolf. He also opened his own recording studio, Vital Philosophy.
On March 14th of 2008, “Un Automne En Solitude”, the second Vision Éternel EP, was released through Mortification Records. This extended play continued along the concept initiated with “Seul Dans L’obsession”. But Alexandre elaborated on it to incorporate a theme from Alfred Hitchcock’s “Vertigo”; the story of “man meets woman, man loses woman, man meets woman again, man loses woman again”. The sophomore extended play featured the single “Season In Absence”, which landed two music videos; one directed by Niels Geybels (who has played in the dark ambient band Sequences, has designed many artworks under his company Depraved Designs, and presently owns the record label Audio.Visuals.Atmosphere), and another directed by Alexandre Julien.
In the summer of 2008, Vision Éternel announced a split 7″ vinyl with the Californian post-rock band Ethereal Beauty. This release was highly promoted for several years but it was eventually cancelled when Ethereal Beauty broke up in 2010. In September of 2008, Vision Éternel was signed to Abridged Pause Recordings, as part of the record label’s initial four bands on the roster. The other three bands were Ethereal Beauty, Dreams of the Drowned and Black Autumn.
On February 14th of 2009, exactly two years after “Seul Dans L’obsession” was released, a Japanese exclusive compilation was released. “An Anthology Of Past Misfortunes”, which compiled the first two EPs with three unreleased b-sides, was released through Frozen Veins Records and came bundled with a poster.
Vision Éternel’s first release through Abridged Pause Recordings was unveiled on March 9th of 2010 with the band’s third EP. “Abondance De Périls” was mastered by ex-band member Adam Kennedy and was released on the same date as Beyond the Dune Sea’s self-titled debut album, Adam Kennedy’s new project, also signed to Abridged Pause Recordings. Beginning with this third EP, Vision Éternel’s sound began to mature. This release spanned two singles; a limited edition, Bandcamp-exclusive promotional download for “Rehearsal November 30th, 2009” and the proper single for “Thoughts As Naïvety”.
A follow-up to “Abondance De Périls” entitled “The Last Great Torch Song” was released on March 14th of 2012 through Abridged Pause Recordings. This fourth extended play featured a slew of guest musicians and collaborators including Garry Brents (of Cara Neir, Parabstruse, Bunrage, and many others), Eiman Nejad (of Mutiny Within, Eliminator, Antiquity, Arcanum, Beneath The Dead Ring, Brainscan, Intifada SS and Unblessed), Howard Change (of Throne of Mortality, Black Albatross, Funeral Junkie, Arcanum and Valleys of the Living), Alexander Fawcett (of Oceanus, Arboretus, Esuna and Sleepless Dreams) and Marina Polak.
Following “The Last Great Torch Song”, Vision Éternel remained quiet while Alexandre worked on other projects. In the summer of 2014, Vision Éternel was approached to compose the soundtrack to a short film. Alexandre composed a soundtrack highly influenced by Clint Mansell’s “Moon” score. But the film’s producer, writer and director vanished with the entire funds for the project, leaving the material unreleased. Instead, the soundtrack was edited, re-recorded and re-conceptualized into Vision Éternel’s fifth EP, “Echoes From Forgotten Hearts”. This EP was released through Abridged Pause Recordings on February 14th of 2015.
In 2017, Vision Éternel celebrated its 10-year anniversary. To promote this, the band released a variety of t-shirts and stickers, a new music video for “Pièce No. Trois” and took a couple of promotional photo shoots.
2018 has more plans including the long-anticipated boxed set, “An Anthology Of Past Misfortunes”, which will present all of the releases in physical format for the first time. A music video for “Sometimes In Longing Narcosis” is scheduled and more merchandise will be also be released.
Disclaimer: Though Vision Éternel has strong ties in the metal and ambient scenes, Vision Éternel has no political nor religious affiliations. Vision Éternel is atheist, nihilistic and narcissistic, and prefers associating with nature and animals rather than with civilization and society.
Alexandre Julien has also played in Les Rocker’s (1999), The Slopin Fairy 7 (2003-2004), The Tom & Alex Project (2003), Scapegoat (2004), Throne Of Mortality (2005-2007), Projection Mina (2006-2007), Soufferance (2006-Present), Vision Solitude (2006-2010), Vision Lunar (2006-2007, 2007-2009, 2015-Present), Gallia Fornax (2007), Human Infect (2007-2008), Green Territory (2007), Lanterns Awake (2008-2011), Éphémère (2010, 2013, 2015), Murder on Redpath (2010-2011) and Citadel Swamp (2010-Present).
2022 October 24th
Full Biography
Vision Eternel is a Canadian-American ambient-rock band currently based in New Brunswick, Canada. Since 2007, the band has been crafting a style of its own, a genre which founding band member and songwriter Alexander Julien coined melogaze. Melogaze has been described as a blend of ambient, space rock, post-rock, shoegaze, emo and melodrama. Julien painstakingly recounts emotions from past heartbreaks and failed relationships into instrumental concept albums.
Vision Eternel was founded by guitarist Alexander Julien in January of 2007, while living in Edison, New Jersey, United States. Initially, the band was part of the Triskalyon collective; a group of bands with common beliefs who shared band members and had their own record label, Mortification Records. And so, Vision Eternel was immediately signed to Mortification Records and the band’s debut extended play, Seul Dans L’obsession, less than a month later, on February 14, 2007. Released on compact disc and digitally, Seul Dans L’obsession was a concept extended play and depicting the phases of love and a relationship; from meeting a girl and falling in love, through the troubled relationship and its break-up, to finally having to painfully move on. Because of its conceptual theme, the extended play was deliberately released on Valentine’s Day.
A music video was produced for the first single, Love Within Narcosis, which was promoted exclusively on YouTube during the first half of 2007. A second single was released in the summer of 2007 for Love Within Isolation, which helped Vision Eternel peak on the independent Myspace charts, reaching No. 6 on the Shoegaze chart, No. 21 on the Ambient chart, and No. 52 on the Experimental chart. To this day, Seul Dans L’obsession remains Mortification Records’ best-selling and most downloaded release.
Beginning in the summer of 2007, Julien experimented with the idea of expanding the band with other members. Electric and classical guitarist Philip Altobelli, who had been a member of Triskalyon with his solo project Darklink, and had also briefly played with Julien in the atmospheric black metal band Vision Lunar, was the first person to try out. Although Altobelli only remained with the band for a brief period, he introduced several innovative concepts, which Julien further developed with other members. Altobelli went on to become a classical guitar instructor.
In July of 2007, Vision Eternel relocated to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, when Julien enrolled in the audio engineering college, Recording Arts Canada. Prior to leaving the United States, Julien recorded Vision Eternel’s sophomore extended play, Un Automne En Solitude, though it remained unreleased until March of 2008. In January of 2008, Julien recruited acoustic rhythm guitarist Nidal Mourad and lead electric guitarist Adam Kennedy, as Vision Eternel’s new members. Both were Recording Arts Canada school-mates. Mourad had previously sung in the Alberta metalcore band Natesment, while Kennedy was from the Ottawa, Ontario region and had dabbled in hard rock, hip hop and electronics, performing under the names AK & Lord V, Gospel Of Wisdom and Orpheus. As a trio, Vision Eternel successfully re-worked two older songs into expansive post-rock/space rock/indie rock-sounding material. However, the full-band version of Vision Eternel quickly parted ways when Mourad was motivated to launch a solo career as an acoustic singer-songwriter and disc jockey. Since leaving Vision Eternel, Mourad has performed under the name Ziko Ghost, while Kennedy established himself as a multi-instrumentalist studio engineer and producer, and has performed with Beyond The Dune Sea, 1993, Acid Cross, Owl Eyes Project and Wake The Wolf.
Instead of abandoning Vision Eternel, Julien decided to continue the band as a solo project. On March 14, 2008, Vision Eternel’s second extended play, Un Automne En Solitude, was finally released on compact disc and digitally through Mortification Records. This extended play introduced Vision Eternel’s greater story-line concept, the theme of “boy meets girl, boy loses girl; boy meets girl again, boy loses girl again”, which was partly influenced by Julien’s favorite film, Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo. As such, each Vision Eternel release recounts another loss, another section, in the greater story-line. Un Automne En Solitude featured the single Season In Absence, which saw two music videos produced: one directed in 2008 by Belgian artist Niels Geybels (from the bands Koester, Mortiuri, Ashtoreth Incesti, Trancelike Void, Sequences, False Moniker and Citadel Swamp); and another directed by Julien in 2010.
In September of 2008, Vision Eternel was signed to Abridged Pause Recordings, announcing a split 7″ vinyl with the Californian post-rock band Ethereal Beauty. This release was highly promoted, but continuously delayed for two years, until it was eventually cancelled when Ethereal Beauty broke up in 2010 after failing to record its share of songs. Vision Eternel’s material for the split was later reworked and released on the 2012 extended play The Last Great Torch Song.
On February 14, 2009, to highlight the two-year anniversary of the band’s debut, Japanese record label Frozen Veins Records released the compact disc compilation An Anthology Of Past Misfortunes. The Japanese-exclusive release compiled the first two extended plays (Seul Dans L’obsession and Un Automne En Solitude) along with three previously-unreleased b-sides, and came bundled with a poster.
Vision Eternel’s first release through Abridged Pause Recordings was unveiled on March 9, 2010, with the band’s third extended play, Abondance De Périls. The release was not only mastered by ex-band member Kennedy, but it was also released on the same date as Kennedy’s band Beyond The Dune Sea’s self-titled debut album (also signed to Abridged Pause Recordings). Although no music videos were produced for this release, the band and record label promoted the single Thoughts As Naïvety.
A follow-up to Abondance De Périls, entitled The Last Great Torch Song, was released on March 14, 2012, through Abridged Pause Recordings. Both extended plays’ cover art were based on an image by French photographer Marina Polak. The Last Great Torch Song also featured a series of guest musicians and collaborators including keyboardist Garry Brents (of Cara Neir, Parabstruse, Bunrage, and many others), vocalist Eiman Nejad (of Arcanum, Mutiny, Beneath The Dead Ring, Antiquity, Unblessed, Eliminator, Brainscan and Intifada SS), vocalist Howard Change (of Arcanum, Throne Of Mortality, Funeral Junkie, Black Albatross, Valleys Of The Living and Uma Orla) and guitarist Alexander Fawcett (of Karmyne, Oceanus, Arboretus, Esuna, Sleepless Dreams, Good Weather For An Airstrike and Hagakur).
Following The Last Great Torch Song, Vision Eternel was put on hold while Julien worked on other projects. In the summer of 2014, Vision Eternel was approached to compose the soundtrack to a short film. After composing and recording the soundtrack, it was discovered that the film’s writer-director-producer had absconded with the funds for the project. Instead of leaving the music unreleased, Julien re-conceptualized the soundtrack into Vision Eternel’s fifth extended play, Echoes From Forgotten Hearts. Partly re-recorded and fully-re-mixed, Echoes From Forgotten Hearts was released through Abridged Pause Recordings on February 14, 2015, and was promoted with the single Pièce No. Sept.
In celebration of Vision Eternel’s ten-year anniversary in 2017, the band released a a selection of t-shirts and stickers featuring Jeremy Roux’s classic 2008 band logo, and renown calligraphist Christophe Szpajdel’s new anniversary band logo. A music video for the single Pièce No. Trois (originally released on Echoes From Forgotten Hearts), co-directed by Julien and Roux and edited by Vasiliy Atutov, was released in August 2017. The band also compiled its long-anticipated boxed set, An Anthology Of Past Misfortunes, which regrouped all of Vision Eternel’s previously released and unreleased recorded material on compact discs and compact cassette. After numerous challenges, the boxed set was finally released on April 14, 2018, through Abridged Pause Recordings.
Vision Eternel presented its next installment of the greater story-line through the concept extended play For Farewell Of Nostalgia. Julien began composing and recording demos for the release in 2017; the release was then recorded over seven months from April to October of 2018. Unsatisfied with these original recordings, Julien put the release aside for a year, until he ultimately decided to re-record it, entirely from scratch, over the span of two months between October and November of 2019. The final version of For Farewell Of Nostalgia was mastered by Carl Saff at Saff Mastering and the cover artwork was illustrated by pulp artist Michael Koelsch at Koelsch Studios; the release features additional painting and photography by Rain Frances at Rain Frances Art. Julien also wrote a short story to accompany the release (in place of lyrics in the booklet), which recounts the heartbreaking events that influenced the release. For Farewell Of Nostalgia was released on September 14, 2020, on compact disc through Somewherecold Records, on compact cassette through Geertruida, and digitally through Abridged Pause Recordings.
In early 2023, Vision Eternel will be presenting a deluxe edition re-issue of Echoes From Forgotten Hearts.
Founding band member Alexander Julien has also played in Les Rocker’s (1999), The Slopin Fairy 7 (2003-2004), The Tom & Alex Project (2003), Scapegoat (2004), Throne Of Mortality (2005-2007), Projection Mina (2006-2007), Soufferance (2006-2016), Vision Solitude (2006-2010), Vision Lunar (2006-2007, 2007-2009, 2015-Present), Gallia Fornax (2007), Human Infect (2007-2008), Green Territory (2007), Lanterns Awake (2010-2011), Éphémère (2010, 2013, 2015), Citadel Swamp (2010-2016) and Murder On Redpath (2010-2011).