Think of ten your favorite dark and negative adjectives. Got it? Think of a sound that each of them would make. Got it? Now put them all together, play for 35 minutes and you have Stallaggh. A nightmarish flurry of anti-music.
This is not for the weak of spirit. Stalaggh is a self described 'misanthropik-nihilistik projekt'. This is pure anti music and is an arduous 35 minute journey through pure pain and impending doom. The project reportedly consists of an individual who murdered his mother and a mental patient. It is not metal in the strict sense. It is a bizarre and gruesome mix of industrial sounds, screams, silence and all manner of anti-music and anti-art soundscapes. The throbbing, almost subliminal baseline will drive you up the wall. The album (one track) was improvised and recorded directly in one session.
People familiar with the likes of Abruptum or Hell Icon will find something familiar here, although it must be said that this goes a step further. You can literally feel that the artists spew their hatred directly at YOU and you realize that this is not the work of a sane mind. And that is exactly what Stalaggh wants! They want you to hate them and they want you to know they're sick. This is aural genocide, audio terror in its purest form and has not been surpassed to date.
Having said all that I must add that this is not a record you will casually pop in your CD changer. You probably will not play it very often but the times you will play it it will be a dramatic and hellish experience. It is an experiment and an interesting one at that. I do not think that the extreme music scene will hold a place for many artists similar to Stalaggh or even many releases by the few artists that do operate in this scene. The interest and originality will wear off soon IMHO. The album has quickly gained cult status in the European underground and this has been compounded by Darkthrone using a sample from this on 'Plaguewielder' (something that Fenriz et al. vehemently deny).
The record is limited to 1000 Digipak copies using some impressive artwork including a drawing inside made by the mental patient a few months before his suicide. The coverart is designed by the same man who did some work for 'October Tide' and who did the 1995 Battles In The North re-release painting (limited ed.).
This is 'the soundtrack to humanities suicide'. Dark, disturbing, neurotic, twisted, sick, vile, degenerate and an interesting experiment.
note: 7/10
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