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Stigma: Concerto For The Undead Grindcore, Melodic Death Metal Pivotal Rockordings April 30th, 2010
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Review
What could possibly be better then putting a Metal CD in, only to be immediately greeting with the cackling laughter so automatically known from the television and movie series version of Tales From The Crypt? Nothing, and many people will agree. This is the case with Stigma's second full-length album, Concerto For The Undead. Continuing with the horror themed lyrics and Melodic Death Metal meets Grindcore sound that the band cooked together on their debut, the band finds themselves distancing themselves a little more from references to some of today's well known metal acts, but at the same time have essentially backed away from some of the driving and heavy riffs that made their previous effort sound so brutal and menacing. Is Concerto For The Undead enough to kill Stigma, or will it rise from the ashes to devour your soul? Concerto For The Undead is a bit of a departure from the band's now established form, which is a little disheartening. It seems that the band has been more influenced with Metalcore on this release then anything. Instead of utilizing a mixture of simple and complex riffs to create an overall feeling of brutality, the band seems to be sticking to more complex guitar chords that lack any real bite, and simpler, more generic Melodic Death chords that lead you to expect the vocalist to break out into cleanly sung vocals at any second, as is the case right off the bat with "Chop Off His Head!", as well as the many generic moments and upbeat chorus for "...And They Died Happily Ever After!". There's also plenty of gang chants, which practically seem to pop up at least once a song, as well as slow breakdowns and guitar solos that scream generic and disapointment. All of this seems to point to the departure of guitarist Morgan Ferrua. However, if you approach this album as a different band all together, it's really not that bad. While much of it comes across as a mixture of The Black Dahlia Murder and In Flames having a Metalcore love child, some of the songs are still rather enjoyable. The openning track "Chop His Head Off!" will easily become one of your favorite cuts off this album once the reality of everything sinks in, as well "The Undertaker" due to it's speed and complexity even though the more melodic moments leave you with mixed feelings as they both drag the song down, but are performed in a way that they accentuate the song and seem to build up a somewhat epic feeling that sounds great but really is absolutely unneccesary for this release. Other then those two, you have "A Monstrous Feeling" that features spome moments that show off the band's potential. Really, Concerto For The Undead isn't the greatest option out there, trading in a lot of the band's potential for stereotypical riffs and obvious idolworship. While Stigma maintains their unique sound among the mix of cheap melodic hooks and complex-sounding-but-lacking-bite guitar riffs, the only aspects that really stand out here are the phenomenal drumming and the vocals, but even the vocals sound a bit weak and are often clashed by inappropriate gang vocals. There's still some material on this release that is worth checking out, but once you hit the track "What About a Terror Ride", the album basically does a nose dive and loses much of anything that will really hold your interest outside the entertaining "Doctor Skeleton" which closes the album off nicely. Even if this were a stand alone album from another band all together, it would be worth checking out, but mostly to pick and choose tracks from an on-line MP3 retailer.
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