Stone, The – Magla
With quite a vast back catalog behind this pagan Serbian horde, “Magla” is my first glimpse into The Stone’s creative works. I must state that the quality of memorable riffage mixed with unique atmosphere has truly impressed me enough to desire inspecting this bands other 4 releases further. “Magla” features a great mix of tempos and a warm production, which allows passionate chord progressions, and powerfully melodic moments of dissonant guitar lines to paint a very bleak yet memorable mental journey. Vocally, Nefas’ midrange rasp puts me in mind slightly of the singer/bass player from Sear Bliss but his presence and character is indeed very much unique, if not heavily influenced by mid 90’s Swedish black death metal. The vocal lines are their own entity, following the movement in the progressions when needed, and breaking off to empower the layers at work here. Subtle synth lines lurk deep in the background to infuse a foreboding creep to torment the guitar riffs and offer an otherwise otherworldly dimension to this material. “Magla” strikes me as the perfect union of moving underground black metal meets Destroyer 666 caliber guitar/memorable riff work and these characteristics bind seamlessly to create a very well written and engaging album for the entirety of all 6 tracks. – Marty
FOLTER RECORDS
Worm Gear 