Reading the name of Stroszek, many will think (well, if there are any thoughts) of the movie by the German regisseur Werner Herzog. This clearly has nothing to do with the movie, as this is a blog about metal records. We want to deal with the Italian Stroszek (and not with this Post-Punk band from Scottland) as they just released their latest record Sound Graveyard Bound. 

C., the head behind Stroszek, should be quite known, as he is one of the guitarists of the world famous Italian black metal bands Frostmoon Eclipse. Everyone who expects fast and cold riffs. because of his other project, to be present on Sound Graveyard Bound is mistaken, as this record even tends to be far away from everything that defines “metal”. That this isn’t really a problem will be shown later. The record, which was released by Hypnotic Dirge Records, contains nine songs with a total playing time of 44:13 minutes. 

That this record won’t feature fast, thrashed and straight-lined black metal was mentioned before but everyone will realise this after hearing the first seconds of the opening track. This song features a mixture of calm acoustic guitars, gentle drum sounds and soon the calm, clear voice of C.. The songs are developing a melancholic atmosphere, which easily manages to catch your attention at first. Although the songs are quite weighty and melancholic the melodies manage to maintain a certain warm feeling, which culminates in the guitar soli. The mleoides are really well done and composed, but you would have expected this anyway, as C. is the guitarist of Frostmoon Eclipse. 

As the tracks feature mostly a similiar structure, which combine those calm and melancholic melodies with the warm and faster soli, they tend to resemble a steady stream, which has two main consequences. On the one hand the atmosphere is enhanced through this constant composion and seems to be really authentic, on the other hand it results in some lenghtes, which toughen the record. Stroszek try to balance this out through the usage of fresh melodies and other elements, but the quite monotonous voice of C. averts this a bit. The record is easily one of the best accompaniment ones, and sometimes even way more. The moments in which C. sings with more power or the harsh guitars that are added here and then are spicing things up. 

Stroszek offer, despite the monotonous/steady structures and those lenghtes, really harmonious songs, which can easily convince everyone with a fable for calmer music. They often try to loosen things up and therefore keep things interesting, for instance through the clear, female vocals they used in the song Spirits Dwell. This record somewhat follows the footsteps of the last one of Old Silver Key, but it takes things futher away from the metallic/harsh elements. The production is, of course, quite well. 

Sound Graveyard Bound is a really strong and atmospheric record, full of melodies and, despite some smaller flaws, quite convincing. It offers calm, melancholic tracks with a clear focus on acoustic melodies, as electric guitars are used seldomly. Even if the record isn’t attracting attention on the full playing time, it is a really good accompaniment! Everyone who likes to relax and hasn’t a repulsion against calmer music should listen to this record.