Магла

Albums of Serbian’s leading black metal force are always somewhat challenging in view of their complexity and the foreign language. Honestly speaking, I apologize for the 76% I gave to “Teatar apsurda”. At the time of my review I had not yet fully realized its quality that actually demanded an 80+X% rating. However, I tried to give “Marлa” (“The Fog”) many chances, because I did not want to do the same mistake again. The result is that I still think the albums of The Stone ask for my full attention, but they are definitely worth listening – even though they are not flawless.

Maybe “Marлa” reveals the typical problem I have with the works of the Serbians. It’s no big deal and maybe the term “problem” sounds too negative. What I want to say is The Stone put everything they have, can and know into each and every song. The overflow of ideas leads to the almost tragic result that at the end of the day, the songs suffer from certain uniformity and a lack of recognition value. Don’t get me wrong, they are still good songs, but I always have the feeling the band could do it better in view of its enormous potential. All songs of the A side present the whole spectrum of the band. A flood of bulky riffs is combined with relatively abrupt breaks and tempo changes, while the omnipresent vehemence does not really know ups and downs. This Serbian way of blackness is amazing, individual and – in rare moments – exhausting. A good idea does not automatically serve the respective song in every case and if I would be the manager of the squadron, I would like to give them the order to check their ideas again and again whether or not they fit the song context. I would also be happy if they would vary the degree of intensity. “Marлa” is intense, dense and vigorous, but the consistent level of metallic belligerence makes it difficult to realize the real force of the band’s material. However, I am pretty sure they can be happy that I am not their manager.

Only six tracks result in an album with a playtime of more than 44 minutes. This alone illustrates the ambitions of the horde from Belgrade. It’s great to see that all songs of the A side as well as “Moon’s Ray” (forgive me for using the English translation) has many thrilling sequences. I am absolutely sure that every line-up member has put heart and soul into the recordings for this work. Later releases of The Stone have shown that the band has learned to realize its visions in a more focused way. But in this pretty early status of their career, they were seemingly surrounded by a fog sometimes – and this made it obviously nearly impossible to find always the right track. (But it would be a daring thesis to say this was the fog that gave the album its name…). All in all, the vinyl from 2006 is an authentic, prickly and defiant output. It scores with a defiant production which avoids severe deficiencies. Every black metal fan who likes interwoven songs will enjoy this album, no doubt about it. Simple-minded dudes such as me pay respect to this release and identify a lot of good moments without being fully convinced.

On the one hand, the Stone aren't reinventing black metal - you'll hear traces of all the usual suspects on this album, especially a healthy dose of Immortal. On the other hand, the atmosphere and mood here is not just distinctive: it's singular. The keyboards manage to avoid the circus-like sounds that make so many black-metal-with-keys albums sound ridiculous, and the riffs are varied without seeming confused. Once in a while - oddly enough, on the opening track - a riff will sound like it wouldn't have been out of place on a Deep Purple album, and while it's a little confusing to hear quasi-blues riffs on a BM album and they don't always work, this almost adds to the overall success of the album.

Because the problem in black metal since the end of the 2nd wave has been a lack of originality - slavish devotion to genre standards makes for boring albums. Magla isn't boring - it sounds like the Stone are genuinely interested both in making a great album in their chosen genre and in stretching the parameters of the genre just a little bit, and that makes all the difference.

It's been noted by everybody who knows this band that the drumming is outstanding, and that's the case here, too - blasts alternate with creative and thoughtful approaches to BM rhythms to provide a solid foundation for some truly extravagant and harsh tunes. And again, the atmosphere - the choices made in guitar tone, overall sound, and mood - are so in-pocket as to give Magla a personality all its own. How many recent black metal albums can you say that about? Highly recommended.

First thought: How the fuck could I have ignored this?
Second thought: This is the biggest name in Slavonic black metal!
Let me introduce you to The Stone, my beloved blacksters! Although this band is not as well-known as Dub Buk or Temnozor, it managed to shit over both projects' material (especially on Temnozor, whose music I deeply loathe). The ultimate achievement of this band is packed within this wonderful CD.

The fact for which I am sure that I cannot be accused of being an asslicker when writing these laudative words is that The Stone are simply too competent and creative to be labelled as "repetitive" or "generic". The drumming is top-notch regarding both death metal and black metal standards; the drummer delivers the blasts with surgical precision, and a worthy mention goes to his very intelligent use of fills and cymbals. The production helped a lot to defining the emphatic and frantic personality of this band, without making the mix overwhelming: godly pedal work and fat snare drums, and a very distinctive sound to the cymbals. The drumming alone is a definitive proof for The Stone not to be regarded as posers.

The melodies employed in these pieces put to shame more than three quarters of the creations that would rise from contemporary bands. And I am not kidding, they are ridiculously complex and ambitious enough to reach lead standards (as golden examples for the new wave of black metal stand The Law Of Force and The Plague, with that exceptionally labyrinthine melody around the second minute mark). From what they read here, some may be tempted to expect this to be showing off and wankery, but the high amount of melody that the guitars use is way too strong and impassionate to be unconvincing. If only power metal would have sounded like this! But I will keep on sobbing for the 10000 years while listening (or to be more exact, just hearing) to Tobias Fagget and his fellows play their sweety neoclassical bloated turd leads.

Speaking about leads, proper leads are not proeminent in Magla, and they are brief, but what cheesehole would be able to complain considering that this band did a work that fuck knows how many years would other bands require to reach its standards? Apart from melodic riffs there are to be found some thrashier riffs, riffing with a more dissonant edge (Moons Ray anybody?) and of course the death metal deal, which brings Merrimack's Of Entropy And Life Denial to mind, but The Stone outshined that album.
Dub Buk would be close to the amount of potency displayed by The Stone, but unlike Dub Buk, The Stone are more convincing and lack the keyboard artificiality, as well as the directionless amelodic moments that Dub Buk falls in (although it happens rarely enough, so they are a highly appreciable act anyway).

The vocals are raspy, in a style characteristic for Slavonic black metal, but work very well along with the rest of the music, with a fine rhythmic sense.

The bass is also prominent for black metal laws, and it manages to borrow serious heaviness and a trebly edge to the music, basically following the guitar riffs.

As a conclusion, I would advise every black metal fan to get a grip of this, and it will be more than welcome as an argument against guys who whine that "Black Metal is dead! Boohooo!". I guarantee my fidelity and support to this wonderfully gifted act, and the only things that I can say further are: "Keep the flame in your hearts!" to the band, and "Nobody fucks with The Stone..." to the unfaithful. ("...unless it's a really horny chick.")