TERMINUS
A Single Point of Light CD

Cruz Del Sur, Epic heavy metal from Northern Ireland with science fiction-themed lyrics! Second full-length album from Northern Ireland epic metallers Terminus that continues their exploration into science fiction realms. It took three years for Terminus multi-instrumentalist and songwriter David Gillespie to compile the tracks for the band’s sophomore A Single Point of Light studio album. During that time, Gillespie was willingly subjected, in his own words, to “endless navel-gazing and hand-wringing” over the album’s particulars. Since he was responsible for every note and arrangement, not to mention handling the recording process at his home studio, the album became allencompassing, a quest to improve upon the band’s well-received 2015 The Reaper’s Spiral debut. Based on the strength and depth of A Single Point of Light’s seven tracks, Gillespie and vocalist James Beattie succeeded in every respect. Mixed and mastered by Richard Whittaker (Solstice) and with artwork created by Anaïs Mulgrew, A Single Point of Light represents the logical next step in the music development of the Northern Ireland epic metallers. Their brand of twisting, sometimes complex, but always effective metal does not lend itself to one particular era or sonic reference point. Instead, Terminus songs are often mini-journeys onto themselves, a regular confluence of spiraling riff changes, guitar harmony duels and Beattie’s emotive vocals. The A Single Point of Light album title stems from the song “Mhira, Tell Me the Nature of Your Existence,” where the main character had her consciousness digitally preserved upon death. Gillespie compares it to how a blind person who was once sighted still sees in their dreams; the mind will process stimuli and thoughts as images to represent them. The “Single Point of Light” in the title and the song itself is the outside world communicating with her which she perceives as a singularity amongst darkness. A Single Point of Light is split between the album’s first three standalone tracks, and the concept that ties together the final four songs and relates to the album title. The album’s lyrics and concept benefit from the longstanding partnership between Gillespie and Beattie — the two men have known each other for 20 years and have spent the last eight in Terminus, using each other as a sounding board for the science fiction themes that are so critical to the band’s overall vision. Their work ethic and commitment to the final product is unquestioned: “We’ve spent many, many hours with him standing in front of a microphone and me in front of a computer screen,” says Gillespie. Now strictly a studio act, Terminus has continued to carve their own indelible path on A Single Point of Light, an album of infinite possibilities and conceptual intrigue.