THIS SHELTERING NIGHT

One thing I hate about Metal and in general, in the Extreme Metal scene, is this bizarre obsession that many bands have with wanting to be as heavy as possible, Torso[%*!#], Aborted, Waking The Cadaver and the other various Slam Death Metal bands, Brutal Death Metal or whatever, rather than heavy death metal black metal sjsasjj, which ignore any kind of way of putting these elements together in a way that sounds interesting and which generally fall into pure cheesiness and embarrassment, why? because they don't want to make music, they just want to be heavy, they don't want to be creative, they don't want to go further, they don't want to have an identity, they just want to be heavy, and by heavy I mean music with guttural vocals that sound like a pig with diarrhea screaming, super distorted riffs that are super repetitive (in a bad way) and equally repetitive drum blast beats.

That said, This Sheltering Night is an album that goes against this cancerous tendency, being extremely heavy, but in no way gets stuck in that idea, and its concepts and execution are brilliantly executed.

This Sheltering Night is the fourth album by Starkweather, a band that was quite a pioneer in the genre hated and loved by many, Metalcore, from the beginning, Starkweather had a sound that was heavy, but there was something there, it had a certain complexity, abstraction and even Prog, which gives a very unique identity to their sound, but which was too initial, they returned in 2005 after a long hiatus with Croatoan, a great album that finally made these elements shine more, but still, it could be better... and in 2010, they finally released what, for me, is their Magnum Opus and one of the best albums that has ever emerged both inside and outside of Metalcore, This Sheltering Night, the album I will analyze.

Starkweather is a band that knows exactly how to be heavy on this album, without being cheesy, in fact, the atmosphere is fantastic, claustrophobic, suffocating, with all the songs on this album being rich in content, they have never sounded as precise as they do here, since From the introductory and intense Epiphany, the multifaceted Broken From Inside and the soulful One Among Vermin, all members shine, Harry Rosa on drums, Todd Forkin as guitarist, Vince Rosa as bassist and Rennie Resmini as vocalist, they all contribute equally to the album , none of them end up being less capable, one criticism I have about Croatoan is that even though Liam Wilson is an incredible bassist (like, man, he's the bassist for The Dillinger Escape Plan) he isn't capable of shining, Croatoan is too strident, which is good and has identity, but listening to Liam's bass there are few moments where it's really audible, a shame, however, This Sheltering Night fixes that, the mix is ​​no longer very strident, with the new bassist, Vince Rosa, being great, while Todd and Rennie are the ones who give the album anguish, Vince is the one who creates the melody, the songs are still very heavy, but they end up having a perfect balance between Vince's melodic bass and the heavy riffs of Todd, what about Rennie Resmini vocals? he still a unique vocalist, and who gives the band the most identity, I really like his style, I love them, they are not pretty or pleasant, but full of pain and suffering, even in their softest moments, but without using those saturated gutturals of extreme bands, this is Starkweather most exciting album for me, it is harrowing, but it is also very intelligent in how to execute this anguish, with many changes in mood, rhythm, even sounding hopeful and epic.

The album flows very well, even the interludes, they don't sound dragged and are just there to fill in, but rather contributing to the oppressive atmosphere, it's almost as if the album was conceptual, with a story in each song connecting, it's very thought-provoking. , this is due to them not having a version and chorus structure, but rather a more cinematic one, something characteristic of them, I'm a big fan of the lyrical content, it's abstract, but it makes sense, I'm mainly disturbed by Broken From Inside, which I will not detail.

This Sheltering Night is an album that shows the evolution of Starkweather, which takes you to a distorted, broken, and devastated universe in its 11 songs, never sounding dragged or even falling into the cheesiness of "LOOK HOW WE ARE HEAVY" like Croatoan, progressive, oppressive, but exciting, unique, creative and thought-provoking, This Sheltering Night is the peak of Starkweather, it is one of the best albums I have ever heard, both inside and outside of Metalcore, this is not just a sonically heavy album, it is substantially heavy, in which its concepts and execution are so above average, which makes it a masterpiece, I highly recommend this album, of course, Starkweather's devastating universe is not for everyone, but if you have an open mind and are prepared, You will enjoy a fantastic, somewhat underrated album, which is, without a shadow of a doubt, their best.