Second album for the Russians Sterbefall, a band that curiously, since its first appearance dated 2014, has chosen not to use for the lyrics neither the mother tongue nor its most logical alternative, English, but the German idiom. Plattensee is a record in which black metal, which is the basis of the sound, is nourished by different nuances that make it not very predictable and, however, amply deserving of its own privileged space. The sound of the band from Voronezh, in fact, ranges from melodic afflatus, post-black drives, accelerations in line with the tradition of the genre, all always marked by a surprising quality, combined with a dramatic aura of doom matrix that cloaks every single note. Undoubtedly, the choice of the Germanic language somehow makes the sound even more solemn and severe, placing Sterbefall at the same level (and not in the wake) of the most famous names of the black metal scene of that country (which, personally, I think the most peculiar and interesting of the new millennium). What these four Russian guys put in, to make their proposal even more stimulating, is an uncommon instrumental property, associated with a production that fully enhances the efforts and, last but not least, a writing ability that makes every single song worthy of attention. In a tracklist littered with small musical gems, I choose two of them more precious than the others: Wenn Die Soldaten Ins Feld Rucken, an instrumental of a stunning beauty that brings to school plethora of post metal bands, and the final Tesla, which could be defined as “dangerously close” to what was exhibited by the last Secrets Of The Moon, if it were not that Plattensee came out a few months earlier than Sun. This last fact alone is enough to make us understand how much the work of Sterbefall is of a higher level than the average, deserving the total attention of the fans who do not want to stop at the usual known but, if anything, intend to expand the spectrum of their listening. Plattensee is a magnificent album, moreover the umpteenth cleared through customs in this last period outside the Russian borders by the meritorious work of Nihil Art Records.

2015 – Nihil Art Records