➤Stillers Tod is a Avantgarde Black Metal band from Konstanz, Germany!
Schattenpfade is a very interesting site, offering not only third party distro articles but also some really good interviews and in-depth reviews for fans of black metal. Only recently I discovered that these lads are also running their own label, on which they release some well-chosen stuff from promising (mostly) German outfits. For example they have been home to the debut full length by Harvst, titled “Narbenhain”, one of my favorite atmospheric black metal outputs of recent times. Their most actual release is the second full length by Stuttgart based combo Stillers Tod called “Jupiter”. The band name stems from a novel by Swiss author Max Frisch, written in the 50s. While I have not read the book the main premise seems to be about a man who denies his own identity, starting the story with the sentence “I am not Stiller”.
This background information might give a hint that we are not talking about just another plain vanilla black metal album here. However, there are still enough of the classic trademark elements to be found here, so fans of traditional stuff should not shy away from giving this album a listen. The instrumentation is top notch and can become a bit complex in parts, but all in all the album is more about building a certain mood and offering a stringent and interconnected piece of music, with the album telling its own story. Nearly each song has some parts in which the tempo is slowed down to make place for various samples, melodic interludes, epic harmonies or spoken word passages.
Stiller Tod innate skill in infusing disparate sounds into a cohesive whole in such a way that the band seamlessly switches up aesthetics, melodies, and influences and create something new within one single track. Each song is competently written, following certain patterns, but the band always has an eye on the bigger picture. Small interludes, tempo changes and slightly uncommon harmonies are used to shake things up a bit and leave the trodden paths. The guitar harmonies are often breath-taking, indicating moments of melancholy and despair. Don’t be afraid though, there are enough tremolo runs and hammering blast-beats to keep purists satisfied for the most part as well. Especially the first four songs should be easily enjoyable for fans of slightly unorthodox atmospheric black metal.
Where things get a bit more complicated is the second part of the album, presenting one huge track divided into four sections, whereat two of those are just short acoustic interludes. The two longer pieces both have a running time around the ten minutes mark, and in those the band go full avantgarde, shooting everything they got in their repertoire at the listener. Each transition within the tracks marks an indistinguishable final chapter in a certain segment. These songs are mostly comprised of pieces, not so much standard structures in the common sense. That being said listening to this work is a great experience, and if you are willing to just dive into the music chances are you are going to get swept away. The middle part of “Vater Mond: Himmelskörpersymphonie Part IV” e.g. comes as smooth dramatic interlude, before the crushing blast-attacks come back without mercy and the song fades out in mid-tempo mode and some piano tones as ending sequence.
The production is more or less perfect. This is especially important for such kind of more complex music, and thankfully the mix is very transparent, making each detail audible. The overall sound is powerful without the more fragile elements being lost in the mix. The physical version comes as nice double LP or for CD fans like myself as stunning A5 digipak edition. Overall “Jupiter” is a very ambitious piece of music, and while for my personal taste a little bit of streamlining would have made the whole experience even better I can only recommend this album to everyone open for that kind of extravagant atmospheric black metal. You will be rewarded.
Since 2009 Stillers Tod are representing atmospheric Black Metal paired with experimental vibes. The debut album “Katharsis“ yet caught the attention
of the music press: Legacy Magazine attested Stillers Tod to “leave a very
distinct footprint in the landscape of German Black Metal“, whilst metal.de
described “Katharsis“ as “an album that every friend of avantgardistic Black
Metal should listen to.“
Shortly after their debut, the band started to work on the three-part album cycle “Abraxas”. The process dragged on for a while and in the end, the project was shelved. So far, the band released only one EP from the project called “Vorboten Abraxas” in 2013.
The band gained momentum while planning the concept album “Jupiter” in
2014. Band leader Kargáist gathered a crowd of musicians and sound engineers that invested several years of work in the new album. In 2020, before “Jupiter” was completed, Stillers Tod found a new label home with Schattenpfade.
➤The Concept
The lyrics of “Jupiter” revolve around early childhood, parent-child relationships, trauma and personality development. Freud’s threefold psyche division and the debate on genetic factors and environmental factors are equally dealt with.
At the core of the album stands the four-part “Himmelskörpersymphonie”,
dealing with cultural gender images and how they’re taking root in the subconscious as archetypes and what this means overcoming conflicts.
➤The music
Different leitmotifs run through the album to emphasize the character of a
concept album. Two of them being choir themes that represent the “father”-
and “mother” theme. Both choirs are sung together during the last part and
combine into a new theme representing the symbiosis of the two concepts.
Apart from Melodic Black Metal Stillers Tod add many elements from other genres. There are allusions to motifs from Mozart and Schubert, “Rosmarin” is inspired by the Portuguese music genre Fado and in the “Himmelskörper-symphonie” liturgical songs are chanted in Hebre.
Sample:
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