Based in Paris and New York, Kilter’s highly experimental music exists in a space between John Coltrane, Sunn O))), and Meshuggah. The new album, Ten Billion Years, is a musical rendering of nothing less than the birth and death of our solar system. Using bass, drums, and sax, Kilter trace the journey of one water droplet as it travels and transforms through space and time. Inspired in part by John Cage’s explorations in time-stretching, the trio’s process was to record 10 minutes of music, slow it down to 25% of its original speed, then recreate the pieces from scratch at the new, glacial tempo – a process of reinterpretation and rediscovery they liken to the way in which entire new worlds are revealed when looking through a microscope.
• Stream the album's first single here: https://www.decibelmagazine.com/2026/04/08/video-premiere-kilter-weather-cycle/
• Stream the full album here: https://kiltertrio.bandcamp.com/album/ten-billion-years-ten
• Stream "Inside Kilter's Ten Billion Years," a 15-minute documentary about the making of the album, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reM6AEwJrx0
• Read more about the album, here: https://thechainworld.blogspot.com/2026/04/kilter-ten-billion-years.html
"[Kilter] bend jazz elasticity and metal force into something far stranger ... The trio as a whole channels something that sits somewhere between the spiritual intensity of John Coltrane, the tectonic weight of Sunn O))) and the precision violence of Meshuggah."
–Decibel
"Kilter’s fusion of jazz and metal feels both organic and exploratory, balancing experimental ambition with emotional depth. It’s this natural sense of atmosphere and fearless musical curiosity that gives the trio such a distinct and compelling identity."
–Destroy//Exist
"Across ten instrumental compositions, the trio explores cycles of creation, transformation, and decay, translating vast geological and astronomical processes into a musical language that is both physical and immersive ... A sonic environment that moves between ominous drones, crushing heaviness, fluid improvisation, and moments of startling clarity ... Musical ideas expand and contract, microscopic details become monumental structures, and recurring motifs evolve like natural systems unfolding over immense spans of time."
–Echoes and Dust
"The standout here is Grohowski’s incredible playing—a fascinating combination of Brann Dailor and Neil Peart—which is some of the best drumming of 2026. As such, Ten Billion Years should end up on multiple year-end lists. It’s that good."
• Read more about the album, here: https://thechainworld.blogspot.com/2026/04/kilter-ten-billion-years.html
"[Kilter] bend jazz elasticity and metal force into something far stranger ... The trio as a whole channels something that sits somewhere between the spiritual intensity of John Coltrane, the tectonic weight of Sunn O))) and the precision violence of Meshuggah."
–Decibel
"Kilter’s fusion of jazz and metal feels both organic and exploratory, balancing experimental ambition with emotional depth. It’s this natural sense of atmosphere and fearless musical curiosity that gives the trio such a distinct and compelling identity."
–Destroy//Exist
"Across ten instrumental compositions, the trio explores cycles of creation, transformation, and decay, translating vast geological and astronomical processes into a musical language that is both physical and immersive ... A sonic environment that moves between ominous drones, crushing heaviness, fluid improvisation, and moments of startling clarity ... Musical ideas expand and contract, microscopic details become monumental structures, and recurring motifs evolve like natural systems unfolding over immense spans of time."
–Echoes and Dust
"The standout here is Grohowski’s incredible playing—a fascinating combination of Brann Dailor and Neil Peart—which is some of the best drumming of 2026. As such, Ten Billion Years should end up on multiple year-end lists. It’s that good."
–Invisible Oranges
"Paris/New York-based avant-garde metal/jazz trio KILTER invoke a journey through temporal eternity on this latest album, an experiment which expands a dense ten-part 10 minute arrangement into a ~40 minute drone ... If you can wrap your head around the modus, no doubt you’ll appreciate the speaker warbling combination of drone and metal-jazz they’ve created here, heady travels through unreal climes."
–Mystification
"Kilter know a thing or two about being unique seeing as no one in the metal space is doing jazz and metal as well as they’ve done it, and I can say are continuing to do it. [Ten Billion Years] expands on their world class musicianship in fresh ways as they, very cinematically, play with tension, builds and expressions, and ultimately immensely huge payoffs."
–Nine Circles
"Though Kilter draw from multiple genres, their core sound is rooted in jazz. It defines both their structures and their compositional progression ... However, they eventually stretch time toward near suspension, closer to the drone traditions ... It recalls a later period Sunn O))), when the dense darkness gave way to a more expansive, luminous atmosphere. The exploration of slow-moving space connects to modern experimental composition, recalling figures like John Cage."
–PopMatters
–PopMatters
"A concept piece about the birth and death of the solar system, culling musical influence equally from jazz and experimental metal."
–Scene Point Blank
"If your tastes in music are liberal and erudite enough to encompass Khanate and Yakuza, you are living in sin with each passing moment you fail to avail yourself to Kilter."
–The Bad Penny
"An album that exemplifies their vision with utter brilliance. It’s loaded with tasty experimental jazz, tons of doom-ridden metal and psychedelic prog all wrapped in enormously vast sounds."
–The Sleeping Shaman
"The music seems to suspend time, hovering in place like a black cloud ... a sustained low growl, halfway between jazz and noise rock or arty doom ... the roaring power of Melvins, if Buzz Osborne was a saxophonist."
–The Wire Magazine
"A grand, instrumental deep-dive into the birth, life, and inevitable death of our solar system. Described as a true labor of love that took over two years to create, it features heavy dynamic contrasts and spontaneous avant-garde compositions."
–Tinnitist
"Fun jazzy shit."
–Toilet ov Hell
"There is a grandeur to the songs, with instrumental parts that are both powerful and dynamic ... This promises to be one of the most unique listening experiences you will have this year."
–V13
