Sometimes, you just need to rock. You’re looking for something direct, powerful, something that punches you in the stomach and gets the old dance muscles going. In that mood, there’s nothing like good, percussive metal, music that nails both the tone and the dynamic structure you’re looking for, dynamic, aggressive, and loud. I’ve been in that mood for the past few days, seeing as wrapped up our Album of the Year post which always comes with a certain high of relief. Enter Stömb and their new single “Ephemeral”, off of their upcoming album From Nihil (31st January). It’s everything I described above, high octane instrumental, progressive metalcore in the style of Night Verses. Head on down below for your first listen!
I think what first stood out to me were their drums and how agile they. Like the aforementioned Night Verses, they make up a lot of the meat of the track, constantly drawing weird figures around the main instrumentation and add to its color. Throw in those thick guitar tones, a penchant to subvert your expectations just enough to keep you hooked but not too much so that cohesion is lost and you get this powerful single. If the album continues on this path, and perhaps throws a few curveballs in there, we’re looking at one of the standout releases of the first month of 2020.
From Nihil, as mentioned above, releases on January 31st. You can head on over to the band’s Bandcamp to grab it and stay updated on more news as we near its release.