Black Metal band STILLA formed in Sweden in 2011. The quartet have been fairly prolific in terms of releases, with three under their belt in the last five year. "Synviljor" is their fourth, and contains seven new tracks. In English, "synviljor" means "optical illusion, and the band invites us to "explore the outer limits of the human sensory condition and challenge the boundaries of experience...to reach out and contact out primal nature and get creative."

"Fralsefrosten" leads off the album, with bombastic instrumentation and absolutely evil vocals. The attack is relentless and never lets up. "Skogsbrand" opens just a little lighter but soon enough it is full on in your face. Another barn burner, the guitars work overtime to blot out the sun with their assault. "En navaro av da" is just as fast as the other tracks, and with just as much fury. Unfortunately, it starts to blend with the rest of the album at this point. Too much of a good thing can be bad for an album. "Den kusligaste av gaster" is the first track that provides some breathing room, with a nice, slow, droning riff and the despondence of a grey, frozen landscape as far as the eye can see. The vocals are more controlled here as well. It has a commanding sound that I enjoy.

"Myr" opens with eerie background noises and spoken words. The music in the background is purely vile. It opens up soon enough back to that traditional Nordic style. It's sometimes hard to section out the guitars because they keep that constant noisy presence. "Over blodiga vider" uses some noticeable keys and vocal chants in this eight-minute opus. The vocals are almost commands; ritualistic utterances. "Ut ur tid och rum" has a brief clean guitar sequence before the chaos comes in. There are some timing changes here to keep things interesting, but it's fairly linear overall.

This is very traditional Nordic Black Metal. I have to ask, what does it offer the genre today? Black Metal's been around for nearly thirty years now and has greatly diversified. There are of course traditionalists who would love this, but I need more. The musicianship is certainly tight and they have done a nice job of creating harrowing, evil music. But that's where it ends for me.