Band: STEORRAH
Country: Germany
Title: The Altstadt Abyss
Label: Fastball Music
Year: 2018
Style: Progressive Death Metal
Review:
Wow, I still remember how much I liked this band's second album 4 years ago, their II: Thin White Paint masterpiece, so getting their third opus for a review is definitely a joy. The band has kept its unsatiable appetite for exploring the various and infinite facets of Progressive Death Metal, yet at the same time their music tells a story, it grabs your immagination and takes it through a fantasy. What I like the most about their compositions is the fact they take their time to build tension and momentum, the slow, light passages are exactly the perfect duration in order to keep the album a seriously aggressive and oppressive Metal album, and vice-versa, these light parts are excellent to emphasize the more energetic ones. The only thing I kind of find awkward is the main growling vocal, actually a weird mix between whispers and throat-scratching grunts, not sure how else to describe it, it just sound unnatural and in a way forced forced; the clean male vocals are very good (experimental I'd say) and might be a solution to use them more frequently. The guitar solos and leads and damn expressive and tasty, they are the salt and pepper of for this album, but also the progressive and highly technical drums and bass lines are well-worth mentioning. Although at first this album might sound a bit rough on the edges, especially if you've listened to something mainstream before (like I just listened to Orphaned Land's latest masterpiece album), but advancing into the album will get you used to it and hopefully enjoy it like I did. Steorrah are a gem of German Underground Metal, give them a chance!
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 9/10