Neithan: Striborg: an Australian one man project that brings out release after release in an enormous paste: I think three to four releases a year. Even I once started to think that Striborg had to be some good judging on the enormous number of releases I saw passing buy, yet after listening it somewhere I never bought any album… And now that I got this “Foreboding Silence”, I know why I never bought anything or kept at least an eye on this Sin Nanna and his project. Unbelievable that a label like Displeased Records fell for this.
Striborg plays ambient grim black metal, and makes me think of a combination of Burzum and Summoning, just one offering the worst of both worlds. After several times of listening I can come up with the following points that makes this album standing out compared to the bulk:
no building up in the songs or throughout the album;
no tension or dynamics in the songs
a weary and dull sound (don’t blame the low budget)
utter lack of fantasy
the man can’t properly scream or rasp and his skills on the instruments are far too little (too simple)
all pretty songs past their prime that go on and on and seem to last much longer than they actually do
samples that are really too clear to fit into the poor production and which add shit to the album’s atmosphere
Is there not one single positive thing to say? Well, yes: I have heard Striborg albums with an even worse sound, and with ‘Weeping Abandoned Spirit’ Striborg manages to come up with a song which starts to sound like something, although it is still not adequate. I don’t like bashing bands like this, trust me, yet after so many releases I can’t come up with any excuse to save this Striborg from a harsh judgment. I would really like to advise mister Sin Nanna to put a lot more time into working on his ‘music’ in stead of going for the world record of releasing albums, or better: get someone in the band who can write grim slow ambient black metal, because this joke has lasted long enough: that, unless its goal is to harass new Lords of Metal reviewers. In that case I have undergone my baptism under fire and can I focus now on the bands that are worthwhile. I just have to make sure not to overvalue the other albums I have to review, because after hearing something like this you would almost rate each album with 90 points or more. I think that this time I have the honour of coming up with a candidate for our ‘This month worst’ category on the frontpage: what a pity…
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