ALBUM REVIEW: Soma Sema – Stengah
For a debut album by a band that shares their name with a track by one of metal’s most significant bands, there is always going to be one word in mind going into this record: MESHUGGAH. On Soma Sema, France’s STENGAH do wear their biggest influence on their sleeve, but this isn’t just a worship album. By mixing this in with some other inspirations from various corners of metal, it attempts to be that meeting point in the Venn diagram and does a decent job at combining these ingredients into one record.
As the dominating factor on this record’s sound across nearly all of the tracks, the MESHUGGAH influence is massive here. Not just in the way that many modern bands have taken the guitar tone, for example, but there are full-on MESHUGGAH patterns and grooves at play here, in particular the band’s early 00s style where there was a bit of a slower groove to the machine at points like on 2002’s Nothing (which opens with the track Stengah, coincidence or not). If you were to pick any band to base the majority of your sound around, this one is no easy task and the level of playing on this debut is up to scratch to to the point that it doesn’t sound like a karaoke version of MESHUGGAH‘s patented riffs and polyrhythms.
The most interesting parts of STENGAH’s sound are when they throw other elements into the MESHUGGAH grinder to see what works and what gets buried under the weight. Aside from a few times where it doesn’t match all that well and gives the feeling of two tracks mashed together, the majority of the time this is the album’s greatest strength. They manage to maintain the eternal forward motion of the riffs and grooves, but unlike their biggest influence it doesn’t drill you into the ground with them from start to finish. Between playing a less machine-like and more slow and groovy version of that style and having breaks between those sections, it makes this sound more accessible as well as allowing room for other styles to take to the field.
Tracks like Lumen and Blank Masses Inheritance have way more metal in them than just relentless djent, and by giving the tracks these wide spaces they can throw in lots of variation with melodic sections, switching up the approach of the vocals and adding some post-metal leaning passages. It’s a testament to the skill of the musicians in STENGAH that they can satisfyingly pull these different flavours off. The performances are strong enough to hold up the super-precise tech-metal sections, whilst still making that sound a bit more accessible through their use of melody and other influences.
It doesn’t hit every single target with a bullseye on some songs, and they can feel a bit too rigid in fluctuating between the styles, but for the most part adding things on to a MESHUGGAH foundation works pretty well. The longest track on the record, Message In Memories, is the best example of this as it teases you with those complex patterns and stop-start riffs but is so patient in giving you that release. The track has loads of open space, some guitar passages and some interesting moments of experimentation with the vocals that don’t really show up anywhere else. It builds and builds like a more traditional metal band before finally coming crashing in with that djent groove which takes the place of a big final chorus.
Soma Sema is a debut with a lot of interesting things going on that attempts to take one of the most distinct and unique styles that a band has produced and introduce new elements to it. Whilst sometimes you may be left wanting more of either side of the coin instead of a balancing act between the two, when it nails this sound, both sides can soar side-by-side. You don’t need to be a MESHUGGAH fan to appreciate this and that’s the vital part in this band making a debut of their own instead of a tribute record.
Rating: 8/10
Soma Sema is set for release on March 18th via Mascot Records.
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