Stone Healer is back with its first album.
Created in 2015 by Dave (vocals/bass/guitar, ex-In Human Form, ex-Yildun) and Matt Kaminsky (drums, ex-Yildun) after Autolary disbanded, the duo quickly offers a first EP. We have to wait until 2021 for the release of Conquistador, their first album.
Whether the Kaminsky brothers experimented a lot of musical universes through their different projects, we feel a basis anchored into Black Metal, to which the duo adds here a complex touch. One Whisper is quite haunting and very Progressive, using clean vocals and howlings with a hint of madness, while Whence Shall I wears heavier elements and a rhythmic with shining harmonics. The song reminds us some french band’s inspiration with this extreme Progressive Metal, but the band easily adds its darker inspirations. Surrender embarks us into a both fast and majestic universe, counting on dissonant parts, wild leads and clean parts that totally break the rhythm. Elements follows and sometimes overlap during more than ten minutes, then Torrent of Flame comes to slow everything down with a soft introduction. The rhythmic progressively bursts into fire, then howlings join it until this final explosion, that lets place to Until My Will Is Gone. The song is also very quiet at the beginning, but the explosion is faster and comes suddenly, offering the song a raw aspect. The short Twenty-Two offers a soft instrumental transition before Into the Spoke of Night, a song with a high contrast between soaring Prog parts and dark, piercing and oppressive influences to close the album.
Stone Healer’s universe is composed of an impressive contrast. The technical Prog aspect meets a Black Metal’s blackness and intensity on Conquistador, creating a rich bipolar universe.
80/100
