Mord’A’Stigmata – Hope (Review)

Mord’A’Stigmata are a black metal band from Poland and this is their fourth album.

2013’s Ansia made a very good impression with its expansive take on the genre, while also incorporating post-metal and doom elements into its sound.

Hope’s production is immediately striking. Heavy, clear and full of substance, it fits the music’s personality perfectly and the album has exactly the right recording to show off the various attributes of the songs in the best possible light.

The band have continued with their theme of developing epic-length songs that use black metal to explore their surroundings. Post-metal, doom and avant-garde elements are then fused into the songs, allowing for more flexibility and diversity than if these were straightforward black metal tracks.

The music on this album is composed with balance, blending aggression, nuance and dark atmosphere into songs that feel like incredibly complete works of art. Each track acts as a journey and an experience in its own right, and the band clearly let their songwriting talent shine through across these four songs. Flow, pacing, dynamics and emotive content are all delivered with ease, providing the listener with 44 minutes of engaging material.

If it sounds like I really, really like this, it’s because I really, really do. Mord’A’Stigmata have always been very good at their work, and, for whatever reason, have also largely been criminally ignored. All I can say is that Hope contains the best music they have yet produced, and I would love them to get more of the recognition they deserve from the wider metal public.

Anyway, enough gushing praise. Just listen to the damn thing and form your own opinion.