Vision Eternel (originally spelled and stylized as Vision Éternel) was a Canadian-American ambient rock band. Formed by guitarist Alexander Julien in Edison, New Jersey, United States in January 2007, the band eventually relocated to Montreal, Quebec, Canada in July 2007. The musical group's mainly instrumental sound has been described variously by critics as a blend of ambient, shoegaze, post-rock, ethereal, drone, space rock, emo, post-black metal, post-metal, dark ambient, dark wave, experimental rock, minimal, dream pop, progressive rock, modern classical, and new-age.
The band released its debut extended play, , in 2007, followed by another extended play, , in 2008, both via American record label Mortification Records. While still based in New Jersey, the musical group included second guitarist Philip Altobelli, who joined after the release of the band's debut but departed before the recording of the second extended play. Once established in Quebec, the band was expanded with two more guitarists, Nidal Mourad and Adam Kennedy, but they departed before the recording of the band's third output. In 2009, a compilation album of the first two extended plays, An Anthology of Past Misfortunes, was released by Japanese record label Frozen Veins Records.
After signing with Canadian record label Abridged Pause Recordings, Vision Eternel followed up with three more extended plays: in 2010, The Last Great Torch Song in 2012, and Echoes from Forgotten Hearts (originally composed as the score to a short film) in 2015. In 2018, Abridged Pause Recordings released the box set An Anthology of Past Misfortunes, comprising remastered versions of the band's entire 2007–2015 output, along with a bonus compilation of previously unreleased demos and b-sides. The band's sixth extended play, For Farewell of Nostalgia, was co-released by American record label Somewherecold Records, Dutch record label Geertruida, and Abridged Pause Recordings in 2020. A deluxe edition of Echoes from Forgotten Hearts was issued by Geertruida in 2024, containing the previously unreleased soundtrack version of the recording, a bonus compilation of demos and alternate takes and mixes, and a non-fiction novel detailing the making of the release.
History 2007: Formation, , and
Vision Éternel was formed in January 2007 and was initially based in the Briarwood East community of Edison, New Jersey, United States, where guitarist Alexander Julien's parents lived. Julien had played previously in , The Slopin Fairy 7, The Tom & Alex Project, Scapegoat, and Throne of Mortality, and was then playing in Vision Lunar and Soufferance. Julien stated that the new band came about by accident one night while he was going through an acute depression over an ex-girlfriend (Julien already suffered from chronic depression), and as he was experimenting with a reverb effect while playing electric guitar in his newly-built home studio. The song he composed and recorded that night was later titled "Love Within Beauty." The musician was unsure how the new song would be used since it was so different in style and genre from his other black metal bands at the time, but after composing a second similar song a couple of days later, "Love Within Isolation," the idea of creating a new project to release the music came about.
The new project was named Vision Éternel because, as Julien explained to Idioteq, "[the] songs were composed while I was depressed and obsessed over an ex-girlfriend; it felt as if I was going to be thinking about her forever – eternally. I chose to deliberately misspell the band's name Vision Eternel (originally Vision Éternel) because it was halfway between Vision Éternelle in French and Vision Eternal in English. Both languages are part of my background and heritage. It resulted in an original band name that would not get lost or confused if searched for online." The band was part of the international music collective Triskalyon, which included such bands as A Forest of Stars, Dark Forest, and Monarque, as well as Julien's other bands, Vision Lunar and Soufferance.
Within a month, Julien had composed and recorded six songs at Mortified Studio, which made up the band's debut concept extended play, . It was released on Mortification Records, a record label owned by members of Triskalyon, on February 14, 2007, on Valentine's Day, to symbolize the heartbreak, solitude, and depression documented within the music. Julien designed the artwork himself and produced a music video for "Love Within Narcosis," which was released as a lead single via YouTube on February 9, 2007.
To expand the solo studio project into a full band, Julien recruited electric and classical guitarist Philip Altobelli, who was also a member of Triskalyon and had played in the band Darklink. Altobelli only remained with the band briefly before giving up electric guitar to focus on teaching classical guitar. After Altobelli's departure, Julien began work on Vision Éternel's second concept extended play, , which was composed and recorded at Mortified Studio between May and July 2007. Julien told ReGen Magazine "I finished recording in July 2007, but deliberately held it back from release until 2008, because I did not want Vision Eternel to be one of those bands that saturates its discography with dozens of pointless releases every year. I believe in quality over quantity. The extended play was planned for release on February 14, 2008."
2007–2009: Move to Montreal and An Anthology of Past Misfortunes
In June 2007, Julien applied for admission into Recording Arts Canada, a sound engineering college located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. As per the school's prerequisites, the musician was asked to submit samples of his production work, so Julien compiled a demo CD of songs from Vision Éternel's first two releases, the basis on which he was accepted. He later told Captured Howls "The producer who reviewed my application, and ultimately accepted my enrollment into the school, called me on the phone to tell me that my music impressed him and that it reminded him of Brian Eno's The Shutov Assembly."
Hoping to play concerts once established in Montreal, Julien recruited acoustic guitarist Nidal Mourad and lead electric guitarist Adam Kennedy as new Vision Éternel members; Julien switched to playing rhythm electric guitar in this line-up. The three musicians met at Recording Arts Canada and were new to Montreal; Kennedy came from Ottawa, Ontario, where he had played in several projects, including Orpheus and AK & Lord V, while Mourad, originally from Slave Lake, Alberta, had played in the metalcore band Natesment. The trio wrote new arrangements of songs from the still unreleased , changing the band's sound from ambient to indie rock and post-rock. In a retrospective interview for Terra Relicta, Julien said, "As soon as I heard how amazing, and different, these songs had become with the band, I strongly considered shelving the release or keeping it as a demo. Vision Eternel was evolving into something else and I was open to the idea of changing the band's name." However, Mourad quit the band to break out as a solo folk singer-songwriter, and he eventually became a disc jockey performing under the name Ziko Ghost. Julien and Kennedy continued playing together briefly, but ultimately, Vision Éternel reverted to being Julien's solo project. Kennedy went on to play in the bands Gospel of Wisdom, 1993, Acid Cross, Beyond the Dune Sea, Owl Eyes Project, and Wake the Wolf.
was again released through Mortification Records, but it was delayed from a planned February 14 date to a month later, on March 14, 2008, due to artwork issues. Julien later expressed remorse that the extended play was not promoted upon release, in part due to the record company winding down. Nevertheless, two music videos were produced for the single "Season in Absence." The first was produced by Belgian artist and designer Niels Geybels through his company Depraved Designs and released on April 20, 2008. The second was produced by Julien two years later and released on March 19, 2010.
The band caught the attention of Japanese record label Frozen Veins Records, which issued the compilation album An Anthology of Past Misfortunes, comprising the first two extended plays and three unreleased b-sides plus a poster, on February 14, 2009. Australian record company Winterreich Records was scheduled to reissue both extended plays with new artwork on compact cassettes in 2009, but it never materialized. Romanian record label Valse Sinistre Productions then planned to re-issue the band's discography on compact cassette in a box set, but this also fell through.
Between 2008 and 2010, the band announced a series of split 7-inch singles scheduled for release through Julien's newly formed record company, Abridged Pause Recordings, which were all canceled. The first of these splits was to be with Californian post-rock band Ethereal Beauty, and was in development since mid-2008. The release stalled for two years as Julien waited for the Californian band to record its music. In 2010, Ethereal Beauty was renamed to Bonfires for Nobody, but the band still did not record the necessary songs for the split, and by October 2010, it was canceled. Another split announced by Vision Éternel in 2009 for Abridged Pause Recordings was to be with Washingtonian post-rock band Tasharg, but the latter band also changed name (to Lena Lou) and never recorded the material. The final split was announced in 2010 and was to be with Swiss ambient musician Marc Doudin but for release on Romanian record label Asiluum Arts. Julien later revealed that most of the material recorded for the splits over the years was repurposed into Vision Éternel's fourth extended play, The Last Great Torch Song, in 2012.
2009–2012: and The Last Great Torch Song
Julien had begun working on Vision Éternel's third concept extended play, , in October 2007, but it took two and a half years before the musician composed and recorded enough material. The songs were eventually recorded between May 2009 and January 2010, at Mortified Studios (then located in Julien's apartment in Montreal). was originally scheduled for release on February 14, 2010, but it was delayed because of the mastering sessions with ex-bandmate Adam Kennedy. It was eventually released via Abridged Pause Recordings on March 9, 2010, a date the musician later regretted as it was the only time a Vision Éternel release did not come out on the 14th day of a month. The delay resulted in Julien introducing the Valentine's Day Exclusive Heartbreak Treat, an annual event on Valentine's Day during which he offers an unreleased song from the band's archives in lieu of a new release. The artwork for was designed from a photograph taken by Julien's roommate, French photographer Marina Polak.
Also in 2010, Vision Éternel contributed an exclusive song to Canadian netlabel, who was based in Chicago Dedicated Records', Great Messengers: Palms, a concept record. The band submitted a b-side from titled "Thoughts as Consolation," but the record company's owner, retitled it to "Start from the Beginning: The Accident." to fix said concept. Great Messengers: Palms was released on October 3, 2010.
Vision Éternel's fourth concept extended play, The Last Great Torch Song, was made up of songs left over from ' recording session, others recorded for the planned split releases that were canceled, and also from new material recorded throughout 2010 and 2011. It features guest musicians on nearly every song, including Eiman Iranenejad (formerly of Mutiny Within) and Garry Brents (who later played in Memorrhage) on "Sometimes in Longing Narcosis," Alexander Fawcett on "Sometimes in Anticipating Moments," and Howard Change on "Sometimes in Absolute Togetherness." Brents also mastered the release because Kennedy (Julien's first choice) was unavailable.