Review Summary: For just one moment, forget who you are.
Stockholm, Sweden's purveyors of gloom Ştiu Nu Ştiu took me by surprise in 2014 with the release of their debut
Ultra Silvam, an album I was lucky enough to stumble across while searching Bandcamp for new music. Taken by the album's striking cover art as well as the presence of several familiar, revered names amongst the credits (Converge's Kurt Ballou and Cult of Luna's Magnus Lindberg mixed and mastered the record, respectively) I listened to the album with no prior knowledge of the group or its members' various backgrounds in other projects and was thoroughly impressed by what I heard. With
Ultra Silvam, Ştiu Nu Ştiu wove together elements of metal, gothic rock, and shoegaze into a mixture that sounded entirely their own and overflowed with potential.
And with the release of their sophomore album
Fake End, Ştiu Nu Ştiu have fully delivered on that potential. The band continues to distill desperation and beauty in equal amounts into audible form here, while the songwriting is even tighter and more focused than before. Though some elements of their debut could feel jarring or out-of-place (the 8-minute exercise in sludge metal "Lose/Loop", featuring the project's first and only instance of harsh vocals, comes to mind),
Fake End flows from beginning to end as a perfectly cohesive whole.
The album opens with lead single "Aegna Saar", from which it is immediately evident that Ştiu Nu Ştiu have not just retained but refined the sound of their debut. While not the most adventurous or interesting track on the album, its familiarity is welcoming and it sets the tone nicely for what's to come. Second single and album highlight "October" sees the band indulging in some of its lushest and most gorgeous sounds before building up into a climax of roaring guitars complete with a scorching solo; build-ups like this are a recurring practice throughout the album, with nearly every song structured like a mini-epic of sorts. By contrast, the straightforward third track "Blodmyra" makes for a nice change of pace after the melancholy of the first two, demonstrating a somewhat uncharacteristic but decidedly well-executed vibe for its brief 2 minute 44 second runtime that could best be described as upbeat.
While band founders and songwriters Kalle Mattson (bass) and Martin Sandström (guitar) continue to steal the show with their haunting and entrancing melodies, special mention must be made of vocalist Billie Lindahl in her final release with the band, as she exited shortly after recording along with drummer Per Tholander. Billie's vocals weave through the music like an ethereal fog, elevating already-stellar tracks such as "Curse All Maps" – which sounds something like a
Disintegration-era Cure song if Robert Smith had been replaced with an angel – to new heights. Tholander also turns in an excellent performance behind the kit, giving noteworthy moments such as the rolling drumbeats that open "A Cloud of Piss" and the plodding, almost tribal rhythm that courses through the doomy 7-minute "Memo" which provides the perfect backbone for its twisting, descending guitars all the way through to its crushing climax.
The doom-influenced vibe that began with "Memo" continues throughout much of the second half of the album, with tracks such as the outstanding mournful dirge of "En Vind Brusar I Dig" and the ominous self-titled instrumental "Ştiu Nu Ştiu", the latter of which appropriately feels like an encapsulation of the band's sound. Separating these two tracks is the 3-minute "Uwaga", which has a fast-paced, noisy, and more-than-a-little off-kilter post-punk vibe reminiscent of a much scarier version of
Ultra Silvam's title track accompanied by heavily distorted vocal samples.
The album ends on an incredibly strong note with one of the band's most ambitious and stunning accomplishments to date, "Widsith". "Widsith" caps off the album in spectacular fashion, escalating over its 8 minute runtime from a subtle, reverb-soaked guitar introduction into a massive soundscape of squealing solos, booming bass, and thundering drums adorned by elegant keys that give it an absolutely cinematic feel before fading out just as gently as it began. It's a breathtaking song that stands not only as one of the very best in the band's short but sweet discography so far but as one of the very best closers I've heard on an album this year.
With
Fake End, Ştiu Nu Ştiu have honed their sound and surpassed their debut in every possible way, creating a densely layered and atmospheric experience that commands your attention for its entire 53 minute duration and warrants repeated listens. It's an impressive and highly rewarding album with definite best-of-the-year potential, and despite the lineup changes that have occurred in the interim, it heralds a very bright future for this dark new band.
