Hailing from the small northern city of Aachen, STELLARVORE are one of the newest and most intriguing acts in the German Black Metal underground. In a nation filled with great Extreme Metal acts and a strong, extensive scene, this is a band that, with their debut demo, are already showing plenty of the hallmarks of a future musical titan. "Tehom" is a solid record, shrouded in esoteric themes and a palpable, foreboding atmosphere that sets this band apart from many of their contemporaries, and stands out as more than "just another" Black Metal demo.

    The intro track on this record is a suitably eerie, atmospheric affair, that builds an aura and raises the listeners expectations before the bulk of the record has even begun. The first full song on the record, "Fire and Brimstone", is a dark, mid-paced track with lots of really confident and interesting guitar and vocal lines. For the first half of this song, it seems like it's going to be a very straightforward track, made up of competent Black Metal, but around the three minute mark, the tone changes completely. We get treated to clean guitar hooks and a spoken word passage, all shrouded in a cloak of ambience that makes this all the more appealing. When this section is over, the song takes a much more sinister, aggressive turn, with fast, rhythmic drumming being the focal point for a ferocious aural assault. "Abyssic Rapture" is a much more speed and fury driven beast, and bursts out of the speakers at a blistering, chaotic speed. The tempo slows somewhat after the initial aural assault of the opening motif, but it doesn't lose any of its hideous qualities. Melody begins to creep in as the track goes on, providing a few catchy and memorable hooks. Again, just after the half way point in this song, the music seems to stop, and start up again with a much softer, relaxing tone that is a million miles removed from what the listener's heard up until this point in the track. It eventually recapitulates to a more abrasive tone towards the tracks closing moments, bringing this track full circle.

   The fourth track on this record, "Epiclesis of the Morning Star", slowly builds for its first few moments, with sparse guitar lines and atmospherics being the key point of this songs opening moments. The song quickly turns into a powerful, epic sounding track, with thick, authoritative musicianship on all fronts, and some of the best vocal performances on the whole record. The music alternates between more measured parts, and much quicker sections of almost demented musical aggression. The song eventually fades away into nothing, with only a few icy guitar lines remaining until the very end. The last full track, "Sons of the Morning Star", with another spoken word piece as it begins, is an intense affair; with frenetic drumming, vicious guitar hooks and sharp, acidic vocals, it's the perfect way to bring the main musical sum of this record to a close. A short, instrumental piece, "Outro (The Seeker of Dreams)", closes this record on a high note with some haunting clean guitar lines and a final spoken word piece that works incredibly well when it is used.

  As far as debut releases go, this demo is great; there's little, if anything, significant that can be raised in criticism of this record. The musicianship is high, the production sounds amazing, and there's a lot of promise here for a lot of great music to come. The ground work for their sound and style have been laid down fairly well here, and it'll be cool to see how these guys can build upon and even surpass the music on here. If you like your Black Metal raw with a melodic edge, this is a band, and a record, that is definitely worth checking out.