Together To The Stars – The Fragile Silence
Together To The Stars – The Fragile Silence
Northern Silence Productions
Release Date: 06/09/2024
Review by Laura Barnes
9/10
Every now and then, I take the time to be grateful. Once a day I like to think of at least one thing I am grateful for. Sometimes, it is the love of my family, or the loyalty of my friends. Other times, I am grateful for the fact that Black Metal has evolved beyond NEETS in facepaint calling themselves “Axefucker” and sobbing and shitting into a microphone. With the likes of Deafheaven hitting the not-quite-mainstream, Black Metal is re-entering the public consciousness, and I have no doubt that in a few years time you will be able to listen to Black Metal with your Grandma, just like Gaahl intended.
The latest modern Black Metal band to enter my sphere of orbit is Together To The Stars, a Swedish four-piece that use songwriting to explore both despair and resilience. “The Fragile Silence” is their third album, and you can easily tell that this isn’t their first rodeo. Beautifully produced and with a whole host of guest musicians weilding Violins and French Horns, “The Fragile Silence” is a complete and mature work of art and is best appreciated in its entirety, rather than picking and choosing individual songs to listen to.
Given that one of the album’s key themes is despair, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that many of these songs would fit seamlessly into a DSBM compilation. ‘The Last Glacier’ sees the main / guest vocalist absolutely tear his lungs apart in an utterly heart-wrenching performance that will leave you devastated as well as half-deaf, with the kind of instrumentals you’d hear in a NONE or Ghostbath song. Likewise, album opener ‘Mercurius’ blends Black Metal ferociousness with an almost Midwest Emo-like attention to melody, creating a song so depressing it makes Adele look like a children’s party entertainer.
Those craving something a little punchier will have their tastes satiated by tracks like ‘Waiting For A Fire’, which takes on a more traditional Black Metal sound that concludes with a wall of sound that overwhelms completely. This review would be incomplete without mentioning the closing track and album’s namesake, ‘The Fragile Silence’. This song epitomises everything that makes Together To The Stars great, reaching up towards space one moment and sobbing face-down in the dirt the next. The next time you find yourself waist-deep in your feelings, I’d advise you grab some headphones, stick on this track, and go for a walk. It might not make you feel better, but it would certainly make you feel understood.
As this review wraps up, I once again find myself grateful. I am immensely grateful for Northern Silence Productions, who’s label helps keep nicher metal subgenres alive by giving interesting and ambitious bands like Together To The Stars the time and resources to make unique music. Without these kinds of artists messing around with French Horns and spoken word poetry, Black Metal would have stagnated long ago.
TRACKLISTING:
01. Mercurius
02. Waiting For A Fire
03. Gravity Eater
04. The Last Glacier
05. Earthbound
06. The Fragile Silence
LINE-UP:
David Steinmarck – Guitars, Keys, Additional Vocals
William Zackrisson – Guitars, Keys
Magnus Brolin – Drums
Sebastian Ryderberg – Bass
Guest Musicians:
Franco Fuentes – Main Vocals
Emmie Chao – Violin
Anna Rodell – Violin
Johan Ahlin – French Horn
LINKS:
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