Stigma

Concerto For The Undead

Pivotal Rockordings 2010

This is the second album from Italian worshippers of all things Gothenburg and is step forward from When Midnight Strikes but there is still a lingering amount of facelessness.  Chop His Head Off opens things out with some flying melodies and the metalcore accents that have come to characterize Stigma's style. Laying heavy doses of Dark Tranquillity-esque riffing along with muscular breakdowns and modern-style harmonics.  Prove You are Man opens with some At the Gates influenced melodic work and some truly meaty metalcore riffs that leave your sternum bruised from the assault.  Calculated tempo changes and beefy breakdowns are fused with sharp Dark Tranquillity melodic riffs in order to support gang-vocals and an overall death metal power on A Monstrous Feeling.  The pulse quickens as huge melodies meet even larger breakdowns on The Undertaker.  By the time A Grave Situation rolls around I have been bludgeoned and melodied into submission.  For a few songs Stigma manage to captivate but over the course of a full album it is really hard for them to maintain momentum and a sense of identity.  With that said though the drum work on this album is one of its superior angles as Stefano has impeccable timing which enhances the fretwork of the band and makes the breakdowns so much harder hitting.  Concerto For the Undead is a step up from their debut but Stigma still fail to truly break out from the standard mold of their contemporaries.  They should continue to press forward though as this album is certainly a step in the right direction.