If you like a diet of blackened metal, Mord A Stigmata will do nicely. They’ve been doing it for a while too, going back to the mid 00s, since when this Polish band has released six full albums including the current one.

This album is one of those which reflects the “endless internal struggle” occasioned by a two year period without touring and with periods of isolation. On the basis of previous works, this concept suits the music of Mord ‘A’ Stigmata. The opening is bleak. There is a sound like a dripping tap, or perhaps dripping blood as it’s “Blood of the Angels”. Violence is not needed as there’s an expanse of gloom and sonic greyness. The piece descends into still darker and sinister territory. The vocals reflect the mood of morbid and malevolent fear. “Blood of the Angels” ends with a dark progressive and atmospheric passage. “We Dance” won’t cheer you up either, slowly and funereally progressing as the languid voice cries out from a distance. We don’t just dance, but we dance in pain, we learn. It’s like a march. The drum pumps out a remorseless beat. The guitar has a Katatonian air. The title song comes next, and is an enticing mix of a colourful tribal beat and a hypnotic low key guitar line. Spoken words, which are a feature used across the album, enter the mystical equation. Dig that rhythm. The off-beat vocals remind me of indie times. The ambience of “I Am the Arm” develops towards black metal, but in an atmospheric way rather than cutting people off at the knees, or arms. “Constant Sway” leaves us hanging in the air, with the Shadows style lush guitar hypnotising once more and now the addition of the saxophone whistling in the uncertain wind. Shuffling drums, expressive guitar work and discordant, disaffected vocals make up the final chapter of this gloom fest, before fittingly “Voluntarily Gone” closes with a saxophone-laced passage of doom.

We can’t say we weren’t warned. “Like Ants and Snakes” is a deeply atmospheric introspective journey, but one which is sprinkled with rhythms and even beauty in a gloomy sort of way. Listening to this, I felt the isolation and endless internal struggle.

(7.5/10 Andrew Doherty)

https://www.facebook.com/mordastigmata

https://paganrecords.bandcamp.com/album/like-ants-and-snakes