Stilla - Synviljor

Metal also has its moments of debauchee and mockery. I rarely do this, but go straight ahead to track “Över blodiga vidder” to listen to a very rare moment when a Metal band as Stilla offer us some dashes of them. But it’s not only that, Stilla have a very unusual musical personality. This “Synviljor” is a very uncanny album mostly because of the keyboards passages that uses different tones. We are used to have keyboards in Metal mostly as church organs or Moogs or else, not as those kid’s sounding ones. At times it sounds more techno, but the effect mixed with strong and full of distortion guitars is amazing. Bold thing to do. But fear not, my child of the night, are a ruthless as the other Extreme Metal you love. Maybe a bit near Satyricon.

In “Synviljor,” Stilla are looking for not regular paths of extreme music. Mockery is one just one of them. Albeit, proper of demons, debauchee isn’t used in Metal music, even less in Extreme Metal. We love to think of ourselves as very serious. First track “Myrmarken” gives a good idea of how fresh and renewing Stilla can show to be. Guitars aren’t low tuned, on the opposite, they are high tuned as some hard rock bands do. Though, the most important is the chordal riffing, a very rare thing to see in Metal. But make no mistake, “Myrmarken” is hard. Vocals also tries different directions. The fact of singing in Swedish, makes songs even harsher, maybe because to us Swedish sounds tougher. As I told before, keyboards make a lot of difference in Stilla’s musical personality due to the unusual tones. Second track “Skogsbrand” shows it perfectly. It’s nice to listen to a sweet and smooth sound surrounded by growlings and howlings. By the way, pay attention to bass lines at the end of “En närvaro av då.” They do call the eye. Don’t forget to listen in the role to the sick keyboards intro in “Den obehagligaste av gäster.” Maniacal.

“Synviljor” is an album that won’t disappoint even the most radical Extreme Metal fan, but it is also recommended to Old School Metal fans as well. I generally say nothing about covers, but the one of “Synviljor” is intriguing and mysterious. The aurora borealis is nicely painted with some mysterious eyes which seem to be looking at us. Maybe they are…

Stilla “Synviljor” was released on November 30th.