Stealing Axion - Moments

(CD 2012, 76:17, Inside Out Music 0IO00990)

The tracks:
  1- Mirage Of Hope
  2- Sola
  3- Everything Or Nothing
  4- 47 Days Later
  5- The Unwanted Gift
  6- Eventide
  7- Collapse
  8- It's Too Late Now
  9- Sleepless
10- Moments Part 1
11- Moments Part 2

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The American band Stealing Axion was formed in 2009 in Tacoma, Washington by Dan Forbrich (vocals, guitar), Josh DeShazo (vocals, guitars) and Phil Willmarth (vocals, bass). They recorded a self-produced EP in 2010. After gaining some worldwide attention they recorded Moments, their first full length album on which the drums are played by Blake Ferris.

As far as the sound is concerned this album has been perfectly produced. Maybe that's quite normal if you know who was responsible for the production, since Acle Kahney (Tesseract) is a well-known name in the metal genre. The playing time of Moments is over 76 minutes, which is rather long for an album in this genre, but for a djent metal nerd like me, it's very joyful to have only a single album instead of a double! It was the right decision to put the previously released tracks from the EP on this album as well.  

Moments starts with an atmospheric intro in Mirage Of Hope, followed by groovy guitar riffs and both clean and growling vocals. Solar has the intention to remind you of the perpetual oscillations and the extreme heat on the sun's surface with its 'organ-ic' intro. Everything Or Nothing creates a perfect balance between the two polarities 'everything' and 'nothing' especially when the groovy rhythm starts after the first minute. The riffs in 47 Days Later slightly differ from the other songs reminding me of Meshuggah, but of course still played in their own style. The Unwanted Gift is exactly what I like most in the djent metal genre, namely melody.

I think many bands in this genre with growling vocals have a tendency to lose a sense of softness. Those bands that try to combine heavy and mellow passages are sure to steal my heart, just like Stealing Axion. The band succeeded successfully in combining both styles in this track. Collapse is also a very nice example of a djent metal track led by low-tuned guitars with superb vocals. As far as I'm concerned It's Too Late Now is the first djent metal ballad! I really love this track especially when the time signature changes. The title track has been divided into two tracks that both last approximately ten minutes. This piece provides the fresh ideas of the band which slightly differ from their approach on the EP.

I would like to recommend Moments by Stealing Axion to  all fans of djent metal, but especially to devotees of Tesseract, Periphery, Textures and  Meshuggah. Stealing Axion are really going to make it to the top of the genre!

**** Zafer Yüksel (edited by Peter Willemsen)

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