I first came across Poland’s Mord’A’Stigmata with the 2011 release AntiMatter and I was intrigued with their take on black metal which contained avant-garde elements and slight progressive influences to bring forth a different form of darkness and with current members also in Arkona and Preludium, I knew there is a history behind them.

I was a bit surprised to see only 3 songs on this release, the first two being 12min in length and the last one being an instrumental. With this EP, I get the sense it could be a harbinger of things to come because much of the black metal elements of prior releases are gone and we are left with a post black metal sound and with the avant-garde still present, there are also some jazzy type interludes being injected into the songs as well. The sense of ominous atmosphere is still present and goes together well with the CD layout and presentation with its twisted, dark photography, so do not expect goat horns and bullet belts here.

The EP starts off with “The Mantra of Anguish” with its simple drumming and menacing rhythmic guitar, slowly gathering momentum and presenting that gloom with shouted vocals and some whisperings but as with much avant-garde progressive structure in songs, things can change up and go into different styling. Much of the post-black is present in this song and at 12 mins. I can see were the band want to keep the listener engaged but to me it’s a bit too much. It could be a bit frustrating for some. Its not all bad, there are some strong moments within the song where the sense of darkness is present but midway a almost happy jazz interlude comes in and sort of throws off the ambience and the song ends from there with a droning, industrial soundscape.

“Those Above” could be the most “chaotic” of the bunch with its faster paced drumming and the aggressive vocal styling of singer/bassist Ion. Mid way into the song it slows up dramatically to present a fuzzy almost 70’s-ish guitar solo, which is interesting and from there presents itself more as the song slowly starts building up momentum but this does drag on for a bit, to work back up to the speed of the beginning of the song. The final song is the title track instrumental, which is almost like a jam session from a sound check or something. I’m left wondering of the reasoning for this? Could this not be made more into a full-fledged song? But enough whining, I will say this though, the production is excellent, very full and bright, even the bass is semi present in the mix. The drummer DQ, is exceptional, where he maintains the flow and keeps things interesting for all parts of the songs.

So all in all, a good taster for those being of the curious nature and if you liked them to begin with, I don’t think you will be too disappointed with this release.

[Visit the band's website]

---

Comments