Expulsè

I've never quite managed to come across such a brilliant band which manages to mix a number of different musical factors in one unique recipe, which only helps to send the listener into an uncontrollable frenzy of pure madness. Stielas Storhett is a Russian, "atmospheric black metal" band, and I've placed the genre in inverted commas because I believe that the music is too complex and diverse to simply assign a generic title to encapsulate its majesty.

In this record we're presented with some really relatively strange black metal, containing a lot of unorthodox drum patterns, guitars in vain of neoclassical metal, acoustic bliss, howling, depressive vocals, and some really amazing, but also quite weird bass work. Russia has always managed to surprise the listener, with some very avant-garde, progressive bands, usually labelled as "black metal". Such bands are, All the Cold from Murmansk, культура курения from Novosibirsk, and Хлад from Orsk. In short, there's a very damaging curse over Russian black metal, which appears to be just another scene following the trend, bands such as Shining, and Silencer started.

The unforgiving, fast guitar riffs, coupled with the blissfully depressive acoustic passages, manage to make the guitar stand out from the rest of the instruments present in the album. Although one thing which the entire album lacks, is the number of different riffs. I'm not really claiming that this album is bland, but it's not really the most varying in terms of riffs, album out there. It's quite a paradox that the musician behind this act was quite liberal in experimenting with a lot of different musical elements, but then not really being open enough with his guitar work. Nonetheless, the guitar parts are amazing, especially in the song entitled "All Paths Lead to Oblivion", which is probably the most original song on the album.

The opening of the album manages to give the listener a glimpse of what the album will sound like, although not quite thorough for a comprehensive understanding to be reached. The "satanic", depressive, sinister screams of a woman which is probably at her life's twilight, is quite sinister which manages to make up for the calmer parts of the album. The instrumentation overall is impressive, although I mainly focused on the guitars, other instruments shouldn't be neglected. For example, the bass which is usually shunned upon in this genre, is quite optimal in terms of technicality, managing to detach from the guitar, thus creating an identity of its own.

The vocals on this piece of art, can be split into two. There's the agonizing part which is dominant force, and the more calmer parts, which are mainly present in the track named "All Paths Lead to Oblivion". The production is crystal clear, there's no room for the listener to exhaust his energies trying to deduce which instrument is which, and what the instruments sound like. The atmosphere is quite harsh nonetheless, which furthermore shows the level of musical creativity the musician behind this album possesses.

I urge all the fans of unusual black metal, or frankly, metal overall to give this album a listen or two, because it is a shame that such musicianship remain neglected, or overlooked when there's so much the musician can offer on this release. Although not really being the most varying album out there, there's enough experimentation to quell the urge for musical progress of the listener, thus creating an amazing balance between brutality, and depression, with technicality and ethereal beauty.