This is the debut album from solo Dutch black metal band Sterveling.
Brought to us by an ex-member of Wesenwille, Sterveling brings us three sprawling songs across 43 minutes. Despite being a solo act, there are three others involved in the album who provide vocals, synths and additional vocals.
It can’t help but pique my interest when a promo blurb says that a record is for fans of Wiegedood, Leviathan, Xasthur, and Weakling. The style of Sterveling is one of atmospheric black metal, with an edge of the depressive style, fuelled in large part by the vocals.
The music feels arcane and cosmic, but also cold and hostile. It’s like it’s taking the listener on a journey into the outer depths of space, but rather than seeing wonders, they are confronted with the horror of malevolent spectral entities and the daunting prospect of limitless darkness.
Sterveling is not without light or hope though, regardless of how false the latter ultimately turns out to be. The artist behind the band has written the songs with comprehensive worldbuilding in mind, ensuring for a well-rounded experience before the final darkness falls forever. It can be a bleak and inhospitable place the great wide universe, so the artist has wisely included different shading and moods across the songs, all the better to entice the unwary further and further in, until it’s too late. The three songs offer a range of feelings and textures for the listener to explore, yet it all leads in inexorably forward, ever deeper into the void.
The music is mood-focused, making the cultivation of atmosphere the primary driver of the songs, rather than aggression, for example. This results in paces that are frequently mid-paced or doomy, allowing the songs to expand at will, filling the heavens with their hope-draining soundscapes. When faster speeds are used, the aggression is compelling and feels earned. A good example is the eruption of violence that begins Oneindige Oorlog after the much slower Verstoten.
There are an array of good ideas spread across these three tracks, and everything is executed competently. This might be as simple as a gloomy riff, or it might be something more arresting, like the striking sounds that frequently rise brightly out of Verstoten in the latter parts of the song. It’s these sort of touches that put me in mind aspects of acts like Mesarthim and Monolithe here and there, despite the latter especially being quite stylistically different overall.
Sterveling is a well-crafted debut album. The artist showcases a firm grasp of melody, dynamics, pacing, and structure, all with the aim of building and sustaining atmospheric immersion and blackened abyssal emotion. It’s a very enjoyable listen, with many creative touches that add nuance and depth to the songs. If you’ve a taste for the bands mentioned above, then this is definitely one you need to spend some time with.
Very highly recommended.
Wonderbox Metal 