Stockholm and Sweden have always been strong when it came to bringing Heavy Music to the world. One of the bands that must have been quite good as long as their existence is around, is STERBHAUS (which means Morgue in German). Even if they are as good as I mentioned, I have to admit (once again) that “Next Akin To Chaos” is my introduction tot the band. Then again, between the years of 2007 until 2019 while actively making music, they only released two albums, “Angels For Breakfast ...And God For Lunch” in 2012 and “New Level Of Malevolence” in 2015. In 2019 they announced that the end was there, but then they released a live album in 2021, “Necrostabbing At Göta Källare - Live In Stockholm”. No-one knows exactly what the current status of STERBHAUS is, but what is sure that after five years of production “Next Akin To Chaos” is being brought to us through the Killhead label.

Musically you can place STERBHAUS as a Thrash/Death Metal band, and that is as accurate as you can get. And if you ask me, for a trio they are able to make a lot of sensible noise, as that is what has impressed me most about “Next Akin To Chaos”. All the music, every song and note makes sense, is just right and has the atmosphere, intensity and thorough load of emotions running through them. That makes listening to the album in order to review it quite the doddle, even though it does take almost an hour to get through it all. You will get your Thrash Metal parts mixed in with not only pure Death metal, but also with Melodeath and even some snippets of Heavy Metal where appropriate.

What I also like about STERBHAUS is that they don’t shy away from sensitive subjects. They attack them head-on, and aren’t afraid to make their opinions known to the world. You don’t have to agree with them, but what you can’t ignore is the way they have put those messages in without trying to diss or insult anyone. They just state their lyrics the way they feel they have to. I think you can surmise that I really like what I hear on “Next Akin To Chaos”. Well, you’re right, I do, as all the songs have that bit extra that makes you take notice. But the pièce de resistance has to be the closing song “Abhorrence”. At just shy of seventeen minutes in length it is a real anthem that brings out the best in STERBHAUS. What a brilliant way to end an album.