  Arguably our current cosmological paradigm, the so-called $\Lambda$CDM
`concordance model', faces an existential crisis. This has largely been brought
about by its reliance on the twin concepts of dark matter and dark energy, and
the continued inability of the observational and theoretical physics community
to find viable candidates for these postulated phenomena. While it is still
possible that this search will eventually prove successful, it is perhaps
worthwhile looking at alternatives, and in particular, re-examining the very
foundations of our current cosmological model to see whether an entirely new
cosmological paradigm might provide a better explanation.
  The main failures of the prevailing cosmological paradigm were reviewed,
concentrating on the coincidences and contradictions presented by the
relationship between dark matter and dark energy. Revisiting the core features
of this paradigm, the Friedman-Lema\^itre-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) metric is
identified as the likely root cause of current issues with the $\Lambda$CDM
model. Building on the concept of a `timeless' universe suggested by a number
of theorists in recent years, the exochronous metric is introduced and is shown
to give rise to a static solution to the Einstein field equations. The
cosmological implications of this model are explored, and we demonstrate that
it can result in a universe with a critical energy density that is close to the
currently observed baryonic matter density, without the need to invoke dark
matter or dark energy.
