Whilst Stortregn hail from Geneva, Switzerland, the sound they produce would suggest anything but, delivering as they do a pounding, rasping slab of icy black death; but I’m getting ahead of myself here. Despite forming in 2005, they have not been the most prolific of artists, with just a 2008 EP to their name before this, their first full length release; but sometimes less is more right? It can be a case of quality over quantity, although whilst there is some excellent weaponry in Stortregn’s arsenal, it’s used rather sparingly.
Opening with an atmospheric piece that reminds me a little of the intro to At the Gates’s ‘Blinded by Fear’, things quickly kick off in earnest with ‘The Eye of Judgement’. Musically things are tight but with a very modern melodic edge to their death metal stylings, with the black metal influence coming across more in the vocals and the drumming. Romain’s vocals are certainly passable, with a decent rasp to it, but it fails to convince generally coming over as something that has been carefully constructed and practiced rather than a natural organic force. The guitars are the driving force here however, with Romain’s insistent riffing and Johan’s excellent nuanced technical style, they manage to walk the narrow path between outright brutality and finely crafted melody. This is showcased to good effect on the title track and on ‘Without Return’, and it is often the guitars that elevate the songs beyond the average.
The songs themselves are all well written, and musically proficient, however they don’t capture the interest as they might, which is particularly noticeable on an eight track album, two of which are short instrumentals. The main issue seems to be the vocals, which never change style at all, although there are many other bands who utilise this style without any problems at all in holding the interest, so I think that the main issue really has to be the composition, where all the songs are clearly different and well performed, they are not different enough so as to prevent the songs from sounding too similar to stand out from each other. This is a shame, as on every listen there are a number of passages that stand out and appear memorable, yet when I come to recall them later, not only have I forgotten the particular riff or vocal part in question, but I can’t even identify the song it came from. I suppose the consolation there is that as the album is so short, it doesn’t take long to go through it and find the parts you are after.
There are a lot of things to like about Stortregn, but as a whole, ‘Uncreation’ underwhelms a bit. I think one of the things that particularly bothers me about this one is that with instrumentals aside, this is a 6 track album, and with songs clocking in around the four minute mark, that really makes this an EP, and not exactly spectacular value for a full length album. I am sure there are excellent things to come from Stortregn, but considering that their work rate seems to equate to about a song a year, I’m not entirely sure I can be bothered to wait for them to deliver.
(7/10 – Lee Kimber)
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