Band:	Mord'A'Stigmata
Album:	Dreams Of Quiet Places
Style:	Avantgarde metal, Black metal, Post-metal
Release date:	April 04, 2019
A review by:	RaduP

01. Between Walls Of Glass
02. Exiles
03. Spirit Into Cristal
04. The Stain
05. Void Within
06. Into Soil
07. Dreams Of Quiet Places

Quite ironic to call a black metal album Dreams Of Quiet Places.

I admit I focused a bit too much on the Icelandic scene lately, when the 2010s have been very prolific in other places as well, with one of those being the Polish scene, and it being one that goes way back. Mgła, Kriegsmaschine, Furia, Blaze Of Perdition, you know the deal; bands who, despite putting out music since the mid 2000s, have only gotten the attention they deserve come the 2010s. Another Polish band from the same wave is Mord'A'Stigmata, who have been releasing music since 2005 and have been enjoying moderate success, but they haven't really had their big break like most of their countrymen did. Let's see if Dreams Of Quiet Places might change that.

Like we've already established, Mord'A'Stigmata aren't exactly newcomers, this being their fifth album overall. And you can tell how they've been growing within the Polish scene, having that distinct atmospheric post- sound that is bordering on melodic, something that most of their countrymen do as well. The atmosphere is obviously not stemmed from some repeating-the-same-raw-riff-though-raw-production trickery nor from generic synths, but is the result of masterful and precise performance, with clear but not sterile production, which makes a usually irrelevant instrument, such as the bass, actually stand out a lot of times. The bass is probably even more important as a lot of the slow-paced moments have their heaviness further enhanced by it, though performance-wise I really have to give it to the drummer, who goes above and beyond.

So they take that classic Polish sound that I've just described and, since I mentioned synths, we can't ignore how synths are exactly what made me step out of my usual listening. While there are synths ever since the album's usual atmospheric intro, they later sprinkle the entire album with dark electronic textures and soundscapes that feel taken out of an '80s industrial or coldwave band, without it sounding like either industrial black metal or the many cyber electronic black metal experiments of the late '90s. It rather feels like they seamlessly and uniquely manage to craft a sound that could blend both black metal and electronic elements without it feeling jarring or gimmicky or leaning too much on the latter. The black metal side is still the bulk of the album and it is definitely interesting enough on its own.

I doubt Dreams Of Quiet Places will be Mord'A'Stigmata's big breakthrough album and I doubt they'll ever actually have one, but it's definitely a strong example of why they would be deserving the attention if they did.

I used to dream of quiet places too.