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Stabat Mater

Stabat Mater
Northern Heritage – 2009 


Heavier and darker than his other projects, Stabat Mater is Mikko diving into the desolate lands of funeral doom. The album kicks off with crushing chuggs, which evolve into incredibly dirty sludge riffs. The production is very lofi, giving the guitars that beautiful crunch, and giving power to the deep, rythmic bellowing of the lower strings. Any attempts at melody are beaten by the overbearing chuggs, and when all hope seems lost, synths come into play.

Synths are notoriously hard to get right in metal, as often cheapening the entire sound for just a couple of seconds is enough to sour an album. Genres such as funeral doom are more forgiving, and Mikko allows himself some electronic experimentation, which ends up being a great addition to the personality of the album. Long, droning, high-pitched synth notes give breathing space and a distant glimmer of hope. It's actually nice to hear the guitars and synths to play off of each other from time to time, almost like two musicians jamming to create the soundtrack of a murder victim's funeral. Thanks in part to the low tempo, the riffs have lots of empty space waiting to be filled by keyboard wails and unclean solos.

The bass was notable during this album, coming out of the mix as a separate instrument – while it did have a supporting rôle, it accomplished it in ways that many bass players don't, with more than just root notes on 4ths. Even outside of the rare fills, there was enough to keep my attention for most of my second listen. A quick mention goes to the opera samples, accompanied by a menacing guitar background, the latter of which was subtly written and effective as a mood-setter.




Giuseppe Fitzsimmons
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