Review of Stalaggh - Nihilistik Terrror

The content at hand makes this a fairly difficult review to write. One should probably track down an interview with Stalaggh before giving the release a spin, because the recordings will be better understood if the listener is familiar with the band’s ethos. Stalaggh intend to spread hatred and terror via their recordings and advocate global holocaust; in short, the usual. Their bio alleges that they use people who are committed to mental asylums to do the vocals, which is supposed to allow them to convey real despair and hatred, et cetera. Naturally, peculiar misspellings also advance an aura of extreme nihilism. Bombastic and pretentious statements of intent are only interesting if the band has the musical goods to back up their remarks; see Arghoslent. Stalaggh bill themselves as ambient black metal, but this is more of a noise recording with a mild black metal influence. The scoring is extremely subjective, because it is difficult to assess a release that arguably does not take any skill whatsoever to compose or perform. In reality, I am grading the band on their concept, not their execution, and the best word to describe Stalaggh is “interesting”.

Production is nonexistent; the album is fraught with static and its piercing mix, which is difficult on the eardrums, is obviously intentional. I am unable to pick out any instruments; this sounds like static that modulates in pitch with an occasional scream or high-pitched electronic trill.

This recording struck me as fairly interesting and amusing, but far from impressive. I might put it on as background noise from time to time, but I would say that it has little replay value. After over an hour of this ambient static drone, it felt pretty strange to experience silence, and to be honest, that was the most rewarding thing about listening to this. I can’t really recommend this record, and it isn’t metal anyway, but I imagine that readers will probably want to check it out to see what it’s all about. In essence, Stalaggh are a curiosity and not much more. But hey, they use insane vocalists, and gimmicks are everything these days. Good luck spreading global terror with a noise record that only a few hundred people will listen to, dudes.

Release Details

Stalaggh

Nihilistik Terrror

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