On the one hand, the Stone aren't reinventing black metal - you'll hear traces of all the usual suspects on this album, especially a healthy dose of Immortal. On the other hand, the atmosphere and mood here is not just distinctive: it's singular. The keyboards manage to avoid the circus-like sounds that make so many black-metal-with-keys albums sound ridiculous, and the riffs are varied without seeming confused. Once in a while - oddly enough, on the opening track - a riff will sound like it wouldn't have been out of place on a Deep Purple album, and while it's a little confusing to hear quasi-blues riffs on a BM album and they don't always work, this almost adds to the overall success of the album.
Because the problem in black metal since the end of the 2nd wave has been a lack of originality - slavish devotion to genre standards makes for boring albums. Magla isn't boring - it sounds like the Stone are genuinely interested both in making a great album in their chosen genre and in stretching the parameters of the genre just a little bit, and that makes all the difference.
It's been noted by everybody who knows this band that the drumming is outstanding, and that's the case here, too - blasts alternate with creative and thoughtful approaches to BM rhythms to provide a solid foundation for some truly extravagant and harsh tunes. And again, the atmosphere - the choices made in guitar tone, overall sound, and mood - are so in-pocket as to give Magla a personality all its own. How many recent black metal albums can you say that about? Highly recommended.
4th full-length album.
Recorded, mixed and mastered at Kazablanka Studio, Winter 2006, Belgrade, Serbia. Produced and mixed by Dadi Stojanović and The Stone. Engineered by Dadi Stojanović.
Released on CD and LP by Folter Records.
First thought: How the fuck could I have ignored this?
Second thought: This is the biggest name in Slavonic black metal!
Let me introduce you to The Stone, my beloved blacksters! Although this band is not as well-known as Dub Buk or Temnozor, it managed to shit over both projects' material (especially on Temnozor, whose music I deeply loathe). The ultimate achievement of this band is packed within this wonderful CD.
The fact for which I am sure that I cannot be accused of being an asslicker when writing these laudative words is that The Stone are simply too competent and creative to be labelled as "repetitive" or "generic". The drumming is top-notch regarding both death metal and black metal standards; the drummer delivers the blasts with surgical precision, and a worthy mention goes to his very intelligent use of fills and cymbals. The production helped a lot to defining the emphatic and frantic personality of this band, without making the mix overwhelming: godly pedal work and fat snare drums, and a very distinctive sound to the cymbals. The drumming alone is a definitive proof for The Stone not to be regarded as posers.
The melodies employed in these pieces put to shame more than three quarters of the creations that would rise from contemporary bands. And I am not kidding, they are ridiculously complex and ambitious enough to reach lead standards (as golden examples for the new wave of black metal stand The Law Of Force and The Plague, with that exceptionally labyrinthine melody around the second minute mark). From what they read here, some may be tempted to expect this to be showing off and wankery, but the high amount of melody that the guitars use is way too strong and impassionate to be unconvincing. If only power metal would have sounded like this! But I will keep on sobbing for the 10000 years while listening (or to be more exact, just hearing) to Tobias Fagget and his fellows play their sweety neoclassical bloated turd leads.
Speaking about leads, proper leads are not proeminent in Magla, and they are brief, but what cheesehole would be able to complain considering that this band did a work that fuck knows how many years would other bands require to reach its standards? Apart from melodic riffs there are to be found some thrashier riffs, riffing with a more dissonant edge (Moons Ray anybody?) and of course the death metal deal, which brings Merrimack's Of Entropy And Life Denial to mind, but The Stone outshined that album.
Dub Buk would be close to the amount of potency displayed by The Stone, but unlike Dub Buk, The Stone are more convincing and lack the keyboard artificiality, as well as the directionless amelodic moments that Dub Buk falls in (although it happens rarely enough, so they are a highly appreciable act anyway).
The vocals are raspy, in a style characteristic for Slavonic black metal, but work very well along with the rest of the music, with a fine rhythmic sense.
The bass is also prominent for black metal laws, and it manages to borrow serious heaviness and a trebly edge to the music, basically following the guitar riffs.
As a conclusion, I would advise every black metal fan to get a grip of this, and it will be more than welcome as an argument against guys who whine that "Black Metal is dead! Boohooo!". I guarantee my fidelity and support to this wonderfully gifted act, and the only things that I can say further are: "Keep the flame in your hearts!" to the band, and "Nobody fucks with The Stone..." to the unfaithful. ("...unless it's a really horny chick.")
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