Overview
The style of this album is slower and more atmospheric than their previous albums. Its atmospheric drone music tone is similar to ex-member Klaus Schulze's solo album Irrlicht (released the same month) as it stemmed from a common idea that Schulze and Froese could not agree on and parted ways about. Florian Fricke from the Munich-based group Popol Vuh, playing Moog synthesizer, and four cellists appear on the first track. The album cover depicts a solar eclipse.
As explained by Paul Russell for the 2002 reissue, "Zeit, which means 'time', was based on the philosophy that time was in fact motionless and only existed in our own minds." And concluding, "Without doubt Zeit is a Krautrock master work still capable of surprises without having to shock. The album which took the band to the edge of international recognition, still sounds timeless 30 years on."
Devotees of dark ambient music often refer to it as being one of the first (and perhaps finest) examples of the genre.
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