I very much liked Mord A Stigmata’s last offering “Hope”. This was black metal of the most sinister kind. Now comes the Polish band’s fifth album.
Following the spine-chilling Burzumesque ambience of the opening section, harsh and deliberate black metal emerges and floods the air. Mord A Stigmata have time, and like a sword hanging over us, the atmosphere is tense. I made the comment previously about “Hope” that the lingering fetidness recalls Dark Fortress, and it’s the same here. An interesting quality of this band is their ability to deviate from the norm, and create their own sounds to represent their dark world. The start of “Exiles” is striking in its downtrodden distortion, which seems to drag us into the ground. The scene transforms into echoing black metal fury of a type that is the speciality of Polish bands. Murder lingers in the air. The violent assault has purpose and melody, making this ferocious beast accessible and exciting. The scene becomes uglier as “Spirit in Crystal” starts with less familiar industrial techno. This took me surprise when I first heard it. This is a bold departure. The desolate black metal riff is there but the vocals are distant and gothic in tone. I admire Mord A Stigmata’s sense of adventure here. The only thing is that it’s like watching one film when another, completely different one intervenes. Yet the darkness and desolation are not compromised. More familiar growls accompany the feverish black metal atmosphere. “Spirit in Cristal” is an intense track and challenges the senses. The unending desolation runs into “The Stain”, a track noteworthy for its bleakness before the drums pick up the tempo and add a spark into these grey proceedings. We seemed to be going down the plughole, so I was pleased to be assaulted by the dynamic and melodic “Void Within”. Mid way, we enter an eerie world of whistling winds and fog. “Void Within” was a highlight. Dark industrial electro returns on “Into Soil” and combines with the harsh and unsympathetic black metal patterns that are so reminiscent of Dark Fortress. At one point it sounds as if bees are swarming. The sound is then distorted. Someone’s messing with our brain with these unusual patterns. The album ends with a dark symphony.
“Dreams of Quiet Places” didn’t have the continuity of “Hope” for me, but what I liked about it again was Mord A Stigmata’s adventurous musical explorations away from the norm into dark worlds. The result is a series of imaginatively blackened soundscapes from these self-proclaimed heralds of nothingness.
(8/10 Andrew Doherty)
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