Genre : Instrumental progressive metal, Experimental metal, Djent,
Electronic, Psychedelic, Post-rock
Released : March 17th, 2023
Label : Klonosphere / Season of Mist
FFO : Meshuggah, Humanity's Last Breath, Fractalize, The Dali Thundering Concept, No Oath
If the album art and title didn't give it away well enough : things are about to get weird.
Based on that first impression and the fact that French instrumental progressive metal act Stömb have a knack for crafting sprawling dense hypnotic soundscapes, with their 2020 sophomore "From Nihil" which presented listeners with a bleak djenty odyssey still fresh in the rear view mirror, one can expect to embark upon yet another singular auditory journey with this new record.
Stömb have retained that unsettling dark atmosphere which inhabits their sound but things take a more experimental and even trippy turn with "Massive Disturbed Meta Art", which is expressed right from the opening track "The Realm of Delirium" featuring the unmistakable soprano voice of Laure Le Prunnec (ex-Igorrr, Corpo-Mente) as her soaring operatic ramblings intermingle with otherworldly electronics and hefty riffs.
As the album pummels along with monumental djent guitars and post-rock atmospheres, things only get weirder as the band occasionally incorporate outlandish sonic elements such as throat singing or flirt with elements of psychedelic trap, techno or psytrance in tracks like "Kaleidoscope" or "The Extantrasy".
Jittery electronics continue to collide with guitars that hit with brute force, however the album's pacing allows these different segments to coexist and provide the listener with either the gritty heaviness or calm respite they may require, even indulging in a saxophone dialogue courtesy of Jørgen Munkeby (Shining) that occurs throughout the album's titular track and climaxes in an elevating solo for its epic conclusion, accompanied by thunderous double-bass drum work.
Song structures often resemble those found in post-rock with a lot of atmospheric buildup leading to memorably heavy and satisfying explosions of sound releasing the built-up tension, but the album is at its best when a song warps unexpectedly and makes any pre-established sense of orientation or security vanish only to be plunged in a swirling wormhole of unexpected sounds and sonic textures.
For instance, "An Absence of Sun" surprisingly starts off as a bright, uplifting synthwavy track but morphs into a super downtuned breakdown chug fest that should put a smile on fans of Vildhjarta or Humanity's Last Breath by the time it passes the halfway mark.
Meshuggah's influence is sprinkled all over the band's sound but "Of Absolute White" and
"The Altered" in particular almost feel like a homage of sorts to the Swedish pioneer's more recent works as seen through the lense of Stömb's kaleidoscope with a bit of extra whammy pedal shenanigans added in for extra spice.
"Transcendance" fittingly brings what feels like a vivid and intense sonic psychedelic trip to an end and sees the band withdraw from the colossal bendy riffs in favour of the more ethereal and gentle post-rock aspect of their sound but still leaving some room for one last guest feature brought to life by a rousing guitar solo masterfully executed by Quentin Godet (Kadinja / Ten56), leaving the listener with a warm sense of having undergone something that has enriched them and from which they can walk away feeling uplifted and inspired.
Or at least that's how "Massive Disturbed Meta Art" made me feel and I can only hope that you find something similar within its varied and vast expanses of warping sounds.
