Stigma – When Midnight Strikes!
Pivotal Rockordings – 2008
By Axemaiden
Although Italian Deathcore metallers Stigma are no strangers to the recording studio, When Midnight Strikes! is the eagerly awaited first full-length album that the band have released in their career. Stigma are already a well-established and highly respected group, having recently completed a tour of the UK (which I unfortunately couldn’t catch) and gigs at both Wacken Open Air festival and Slovenia’s Metal Camp, so they already have a loyal following, myself included. So it was with eager anticipation that I played When Midnight Strikes! for the first time.
Opening with the eerie guttural chuckling of Gary Oldman’s Dracula kind of gives you an impression of what the general theme of the album entails, as does tracks with titles such as ‘I Am Dracula’, ‘Silver Bullets And Burning Crosses’, ‘Flesh Ritual’ and ‘Blood, Your Precious Blood!’, namely crushingly heavy music with a gore-spattered centre. Even the fact that this is a pretty common theme within heavy music doesn’t detract from the album being enjoyable and well-created. The riffs and vocals are fast, brutal and ear-splitting; presenting an unending, pounding, confusing assault upon the ears, especially on the aforementioned tracks, of which ‘I Am Dracula’, ‘Flesh Ritual’ and 'Blood, Your Precious Blood!' are my favourites. A fucking awesome album!
Official Stigma Website
Official Stigma Myspace
Official Label Website
Pivotal Rockordings – 2008
By Axemaiden
Although Italian Deathcore metallers Stigma are no strangers to the recording studio, When Midnight Strikes! is the eagerly awaited first full-length album that the band have released in their career. Stigma are already a well-established and highly respected group, having recently completed a tour of the UK (which I unfortunately couldn’t catch) and gigs at both Wacken Open Air festival and Slovenia’s Metal Camp, so they already have a loyal following, myself included. So it was with eager anticipation that I played When Midnight Strikes! for the first time.
Opening with the eerie guttural chuckling of Gary Oldman’s Dracula kind of gives you an impression of what the general theme of the album entails, as does tracks with titles such as ‘I Am Dracula’, ‘Silver Bullets And Burning Crosses’, ‘Flesh Ritual’ and ‘Blood, Your Precious Blood!’, namely crushingly heavy music with a gore-spattered centre. Even the fact that this is a pretty common theme within heavy music doesn’t detract from the album being enjoyable and well-created. The riffs and vocals are fast, brutal and ear-splitting; presenting an unending, pounding, confusing assault upon the ears, especially on the aforementioned tracks, of which ‘I Am Dracula’, ‘Flesh Ritual’ and 'Blood, Your Precious Blood!' are my favourites. A fucking awesome album!
Official Stigma Website
Official Stigma Myspace
Official Label Website
