ALBUM REVIEW: Impermanence – Stortregn

Since forming in 2006, Swiss extreme metallers STORTREGN (meaning “downpour” in Swedish) have released four albums and an EP which have steadily garnered them a devoted following in the underground. Now signed to The Artisan Era and making their debut for the label, fifth record Impermanence follows on from their excellent Evocation of Light and is their chance to blow the roof off and welcome in a deluge of new fans. 

The band play a mixture of black and death metal with a technical slant, but not so much it overpowers songs and don’t rely on their technicality to write good tracks or to cover bland writing. They also throw in lashings of classic heavy metal, some acoustic classical guitar as well as progressive tendencies. So many bands that attempt to combine this amount of genres and influences end up ruining the final product but Impermanence quickly puts any such fears about STORTREGN to rest. 

Starting with a soft classical guitar, Ghosts of the Past is initially a slow affair. The acoustic motif is echoed by the guitar with gradual snare rolls that build into a chug while the melody adds flourishes and it all comes to a head in a frostbitten blast of blastbeats, staccato riffing and a black metal rasp. As an opener it does exactly what it needs to, setting out STORTREGN’s stall in a flurry of white-hot melodic black metal, vicious death growls, black metal rasps and ripping guitar solos. Flowing straight into Moon, Sun, Stars,  the band don’t let up the pace one iota aside from the occasional classical guitar interlude. 

By the time we come around to the title track we’re halfway through Impermanence but it’s here the band throw a definite curveball as it’s the shortest on the album and is mostly an instrumental affair. A soft acoustic guitar again opens and then builds to incorporate blastbeats and riffing until a yearning lead takes charge. The drumming often switches patterns underneath so despite the initial repetitiveness of the guitar work, it manages to hold interest.

Multilayered Chaos is perhaps the song with the most apt description of the band’s sound, its melodic black metal juxtaposed with epic heavy metal. There’s a further curveball in Timeless Splendour that changes the established formula, introducing a jazz interlude from around the two minute mark that comes after a power metal inspired giant of a guitar solo, and this then builds back into the band’s trademark melodic black metal. 

Every single instrument gets its moment to shine throughout the album and vocalist Romain knows when to back off and let the band shine. There’s even bass solos and interludes that are truly something to behold. The guitar solos hit like lightning bolts from the gods, drummer Samuel Jakubec knows when to go full steam ahead and when to pull back. The production deserves special mention too, ensuring that the moments where each instrument shines gets the attention and space they deserve. It’s a rich, full production job that makes Impermanence sound absolutely huge and epic. 

Transitions between songs are well worth highlighting in the way STORTREGN use various motifs, such as the staccato pattern that moves the title track into Grand Nexion Abyss. The same goes for the transition between Ghosts of the Past and Moon, Sun, Stars that has acoustic strumming moving between the two songs, differentiated only by the stabbing staccato in the latter.

With eight compositions totalling 44 minutes, the band keep things moving with plenty of variety. Vocals switch effortlessly between death growls and black metal rasps and there’s constant flurries of guitars that move between tremolo riffs, heavy metal duelling guitars and face-melting solos. It’s a near relentless album where the only reprieve to be found is in the brief quieter segments that only serve to lull the listener into a false sense of security before the next salvo.

For all its extremity and heaviness, melody is kept close at hand and injected throughout Impermanence, making it very difficult to pigeonhole STORTREGN. This is very much an extreme metal record that blends the best of multiple subgenres from black and death metal to classic heavy metal and jazz to create something far greater than the sum of its parts.

Rating: 9/10

Impermanence is set for release March 12th via The Artisan Era. 

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