Vision Eternel

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. and as he was experimenting with a reverb effect while playing electric guitar in his newly-built home studio. and produced a music video for "Love Within Narcosis," which was released as a lead single via YouTube on February 9, 2007. 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. 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. Also in 2010, Vision Éternel contributed an exclusive song to American record label Dedicated Records' Various Artists compilation, Great Messengers: Palms. Great Messengers: Palms was released on October 3, 2010. Like all of the band's previous outputs, Julien had hoped to release the extended play through Abridged Pause Recordings on February 14, 2012, but it was delayed until March 14, 2012 because of late guest contributions, the mastering sessions, and artwork changes. While working on The Last Great Torch Song and after its release, Julien hinted that it may be Vision Éternel's swan song. It took the band nearly a decade to successfully release Echoes from Forgotten Hearts in a physical format. New merchandise was sold featuring both Szpajdel's new logo and Roux's original logo. A music video was also produced for "Pièce No. Trois," using the footage which had been lost in 2012 and since recovered. Another music video for "Sometimes in Longing Narcosis" was announced in February 2018, but was never completed. The highlight of the band's tenth anniversary was to be the box set An Anthology of Past Misfortunes, which was scheduled for release via Abridged Pause Recordings on February 14, 2017, 2018–2025: For Farewell of Nostalgia, Echoes from Forgotten Hearts reissue, and Julien's death , Quebec on April 10, 2017. Vision Eternel started composing and demoing songs for its sixth concept extended play, For Farewell of Nostalgia, in 2017, but had to put it on hold during the band's tenth anniversary to focus on the box set and other merchandise. Italian record label Dornwald Records' Forest of Thorns: A Dornwald Compilation (using "Moments of Absence," released on March 25, 2019), Fully remastered by Carl Saff, it was packaged in a double compact cassette thermoform box set and included an 80-page novella titled ''The Making of Echoes from Forgotten Hearts – A Narrative of Vision Eternel's Soundtrack, in which Julien details the making of the release, the difficulty he had getting it released, and the reasons for its delay, along with 70 images from the band archives. It contains the seven-song version (released as the extended play in 2015), the unreleased six-song soundtrack version, and ten demos, unused takes, and alternate mixes on a bonus tape titled Lost Misfortunes: A Selection of Demos and Rarities (Part Three)''. On June 3, 2025, it was announced that Julien died at the age of 37 on May 14. No cause of death was given. His death marked the automatic dissolution of Vision Eternel. == Style and influences ==

Vision Eternel's mainly instrumental sound has been described variously by critics as a blend of ambient, He explained to Idioteq in 2020, "People tend to label my music 'guitar ambient'; I think that is a fair description but I do not listen to that style of music. My influences really do come from genres that are unrelated to the ambient, shoegaze, or post-rock scenes; perhaps that is why it has been so difficult for Vision Eternel to be categorized, not only by me, but also by fans and record labels. It is ambient, but it is also rock-based." He continued, "A great deal of genres and labels have been attached to Vision Eternel over the years, but they apparently did not please everyone. Whenever someone claimed that Vision Eternel was an ambient band, someone else argued that it had no keyboards. When someone thought that it was post-rock, someone else rebutted that it had no drums. When someone was pushing the terms shoegaze, dream pop, or dream rock, fans were quick to point out that it lacked vocals. Others hoped to label it ethereal or darkwave, but that community was adamant about having electronic instruments. The space rock fans were slightly more open-minded but never fully accepted it because it was not psychedelic enough. The term drone was also briefly used by a couple of journalists, but that too was quickly shut down because the songs are too structured. The dark ambient community wanted nothing of it because it was too hopeful in nature. And finally, the emo revivalist community was skeptical because real emo was something that existed in the 1990s. Vision Eternel certainly has a little bit of each of those genres, yet it is not any one of them. But I grew tired of trying to impose Vision Eternel on genres or scenes, so in 2010, I coined the term melogaze." in Montreal, Quebec on December 3, 2011. The picture showcases the band's film noir influences. During an interview with Captured Howls, Julien said it was difficult for him to pinpoint Vision Eternel's influences, explaining, "I do not personally listen to the genres of music that are generally affixed to the band. My songwriting, recording, and mixing influences are almost completely unrelated to those genres, or even to music at times. A lot of the musical influences for Vision Eternel come from my subconscious; songs that I really have to think back on as meaningful." He also told The Spill Magazine, "Vision Eternel is very much emotion-based, not genre or style-based." He further related that he makes it a point not to listen to music during Vision Eternel's writing and recording sessions so that his emotions and subconscious influences can remain natural. Julien shared with The Noise Beneath the Snow that "Vision Eternel's compositions have always been more influenced by films rather than music." He elaborated to Idioteq, "I would say that watching movies has a much more immediate effect on my compositions and recordings than listening to music. Films create an immediate mood and tone, and I often begin composing music after watching one. I am highly influenced by melodramatic films." He confessed to ''It's Psychedelic Baby! Magazine that watching films is, for him, a form of escapism, which makes him very sentimental and inspires his creativity. The musician often singled out Alfred Hitchcock as his favorite director and Vertigo'' as his favorite film, both of which he noted as instrumental in Vision Eternel's development of themes and concepts for extended plays. Other film directors mentioned as influential to the band include Douglas Sirk, Fritz Lang, Billy Wilder, Orson Welles, Charlie Chaplin, F. W. Murnau, John Frankenheimer, Jean-Pierre Melville, Henri-Georges Clouzot, Jacques Deray, Henri Verneuil, Woody Allen, Alan J. Pakula, and Cameron Crowe. In numerous interviews, Julien singled out Faith No More as his favorite band and asserted that their influence on Vision Eternel's music, although different in genre and style, was nevertheless prominent. He further highlighted bass guitarist Billy Gould as highly influential in the way that he plays electric bass guitar. Other bands and artists mentioned as significant include The Smashing Pumpkins, Limp Bizkit, Swans, Frank Sinatra, Elton John, Clint Mansell, Bernard Herrmann, CSTVT, As Friends Rust, Deadsy, Pink Floyd, Harmonium, Bathory, Eleventh He Reaches London, Chamberlain, Mother Love Bone, King Diamond, Ozzy Osbourne, Burzum, Dissection, Immortal, Eliminator, Brainscan, Black Sand and Starless Nights, and Montgomery 21, which Julien told Captured Howls "are probably the artists that are mainly responsible for the way that Vision Eternel sounds." == Members ==

Main founder • Alexander Julien – electric guitar, acoustic guitar, electric bass guitar, eBow (2007–2025, his death) Former members • Philip Altobelli – electric guitar, classical guitar (2007) • Nidal Mourad – acoustic guitar (2008) • Adam Kennedy – electric guitar (2008) Timeline == Discography ==

;EPs • (Mortification Records, 2007) • (Mortification Records, 2008) • (Abridged Pause Recordings, 2010) • The Last Great Torch Song (Abridged Pause Recordings, 2012) • Echoes from Forgotten Hearts (Abridged Pause Recordings, 2015 / Geertruida, 2024) • For Farewell of Nostalgia (Somewherecold Records / Geertruida / Abridged Pause Recordings, 2020) == See also ==