Stömb: Forging A Deeper Connection

To stand out from the crowd in the hotly contested world of metal you need to ensure that you bring something unique and inviting to the table. This is precisely what French progressive outfit STÖMB have on offer with their alluring instrumental prowess. Their impending release From Nihil makes its arrival at the end of the month as the band continue to push the boundaries of their sound and experiment more than ever before.

“For this album we’ve tried to focus on the concept of textures, colours and the cosmos. It took us nine months to give birth to this new album and we wanted to get ourselves into analogue processing for our sound and get creative,” discusses guitarist Tom Bonetto. “We wanted to create our own ideology to give us perspective about our future and how would could push STÖMB forward. This is the next step.”

“The evolution of the project has been really intense including the creative process and the manner in which we perceive music,” adds drummer and newest member Tom Gadonna. “I joined during the process for the Duality EP and before this we didn’t really introduce the idea of any conceptual work, we really enjoyed it. For From Nihil we wanted to work on something we are all interested in which is introspection. As we have no lyrics we tried to push the concept through visuals and light motives. Our rhythm guitarist Aurélien is the brain behind all of the structures and he has this ability to write music and present it to us where we then deconstruct it and piece it all back together to make sure it is consistent with our view for which path the tracks should take. This gives the music its soul. Our bassist Alex puts all the roots of the ideas and concepts into play and through spending some time discussing potential titles and topics we find a path which we are all in agreement with. It’s a long process but at first we compose the music and then try to intertwine it with the concept. It’s definitely been a new way of producing music for us.”

Without the utilisation of a vocalist or frontman to help add substance to the conceptual themes on show STÖMB depend on other medium to achieve this. “We try to explore our concepts and themes through visuals. The video for Ephemeral was very special as we did it entirely by ourselves. Tom B developed it all by himself,” Tom G says. “The effects are all real, every explosion and texture, nothing was computer generated. It took a lot of time to get the proper message delivered across in the video and expand our music visually. It took around six months of work in order to produce the video and ensure it fit the intended concept of this title. It’s definitely been a new way of producing music for us.”

STÖMB are very much free spirits who don’t like to confine themselves to any form of musical restraints. This has helped them to be one of the most exciting up and coming bands on the circuit. They have found a particular source of inspiration for their musical journey in the form of Norwegian trailblazers LEPROUS. “I’m very impressed with their story. They do exactly what they want to do musically and have the tools to be able to achieve this. They’re like aliens, almost mystical and are one of the best bands I’ve ever seen,” Tom B enthuses. “It’s inspiring for us to be able to trust ourselves and our concepts. Strong concepts can help provide an identity for a band which helps form an intimate connection with an audience. I think being true to yourself is a new goal for making music today. There is a lot going on on the radio right now and we’ve kind of forgotten how to be creative and still be emotionally connected to music. It’s a form of expression and I think when you find a band who can match this kind of connection it forms a deeper bond between the band and the audience. This is what inspired me for this album and to continue to write music in general. Our releases can only live because there is audience and we need to make sure that we continue to form this deep connection.”

From Nihil is out now via self-release.

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