Remember that line from this old song: "It's just the way it is, some things will never change.."? That line crossed my mind and defined my perception of this here release by the Black Metal band, STIGMHATE, which goes by the name of "The Sun Collapse", released via Bakerteam Records. Frankly, I haven't needed further proofs to know that there are several of things that will remain the same in Black Metal music no matter what, especially the large number of bands that like to keep the subgenre in its older form. In this here case, it certainly didn't pay off.

Despite my appreciation towards some of Black Metal's great octave based riffing, which was also evident on this album in a few vibrant moments, the material presented by STIGMHATE isn't really going anywhere. The band seemed to me like great fans of the old Norwegian kind of Black Metal, which is pretty understandable, but admiration is a single aspect, it is only a small piece of the equation. Virtually, the album stumbles in the quicksand while slowly drowning. That can't be good right? Besides going nowhere, "The Sun Collapse" doesn't offer anything exciting that will partially divert the attention from the repetitive nature of the material to other possible points of interest.

Sadly most of what I liked on this album is based on several great key moments and pretty much nothing more than that. "Luce" and "Sinless Progeny" were the best two examples that I could excavate from the overall music. The former shows a little bit of freshness along with inspiring riffing here and there. I didn't expect every Black Metal band to march forward with innovations, yet I would expect that the songs will differ from one another at least, something that didn't happen here.