Review by Michael on December 23, 2020.

How many ideas does our well-known Rogga Johansson have floating around in his head every day? In any case, he doesn't seem to get bored, because with Songs of Flesh and Decay he releases what feels like 666666 albums. But wait - if you look at the name of the band ("Stass"), you will find terms from Swedish (state or plaster), but they don't really fit an old school death metal band, do they? So look further and if you take a closer look at the musician ensemble, you will find that Felix Stass (the singer of Crematory (Germany)) is a co-founder of the band. That seems kind of sensible then, but unless your name is Ozzy, Rob or Donald Trump, I think it's a bit self-indulgent to name your band after yourself.

The first disc of the band was not well known to me until I found it not really an earth-shattering release. A mixture of death metal and some gothic. Well, now I have the second disc called Songs of Flesh and Decay of the German-Swedish collaboration and I must say that the disc is an extremely cool increase to the previous album. What is offered here is Swedish old school death metal of the finest kind. The melodies sound like they were recorded in the early 90s, the guitars have a fat sawing sound, the drums are produced first class and Felix sounds like a proper death metal singer should sound (I think he has similarities to old Entrails or Lik in his voice). The melodies are very catchy and groovy, there are always cool solos built into the songs. Particular standout songs are 'Skin That Peels Away', a fat mid-tempo track that gets stuck right in your ear canal, 'The Skeletons Are Ready', a galloping track with a nasty Autopsy middle section; 'As the Seasons bleach your Bones', a song Dismember couldn't have written better - very catchy and melodic as well as 'Dreams of Rotting Flesh', here the guys really pick up the tempo and flatten everything with a real riff storm.

As musical references I would mention old Dismember, Entombed, Carnage or Entrails, but here the cat bites the tail. A very clear buy recommendation for the still young death metal year 2021, even if you do not like Crematory. Stass has as little to do with this as Sabaton with real heavy metal. Very strong album!!!!

Rating: 9 out of 10

Review by Michael on October 24, 2023.

What is the color of rain? Hm, this is a tricky question. At first thought, you might think about the different colors while you see the rainbow when it is raining and the sun is lurking through the clouds. But you could also think about the sound when the rain comes pouring down from the skies. It can be very nice but when I think about the sound of the rain in our gutter it is pretty annoying, especially at night when you want to sleep. And of course you can think of the way the rain is falling – mild drizzle or pouring cats and dogs and sometimes causing terrible deluges. Bram Bruyneel who was responsible for the latest Schavot album cover did a fantastic job here with this cover painting.

With Oceans Above the Dutch guys in The Color Of Rain (featuring Gerhans Meulenbeld (Sad State Of Decay), Floris Velthuis (Asgrauw / Schavot) and Devi Hisgen (Teitan); have created a musical counterpart to this description I just did. On their debut album you will find a lot of devastating soundscapes that if it was rain doesn't make you to leave your house (listen to the heavy dissonant and very repetitive riff attacks in the title track) but also some very nice and relaxing sounds that make you want to dance in the warm summer rain. What makes the album very diverse are the very nested parts which combine very technical and often very dissonant moments with some sections that are easier accessible to the listener because they have a little bit more melodies in it. 'Translucence' is a perfect example for this mixture of stylistic elements. In a split second you have almost balladic structures and then all of a sudden the guys come back with fury and hate and pour a bucket of water over your head with the heaviness. 'Darkness Cloaks The Cradle' almost sounds a little bit like The Gathering with their “Mandylion” breakthrough album at the start only to switch into something absolute insane that sounds like absolute hate and desperation after about one minute. It is a little bit tricky to explain how the whole thing sounds, maybe it is best to describe as a mixture between old Cynic and Deathspell Omega. And this is also the difficult part: is it death or (post) black metal? Maybe The Color Of Rain is something in between. Of course this isn't just because of the really sick guitars with a lot of tremolo picking and the pummeling drums but also because vocalist Devi Hisgen does a really insane, sometimes slight schizophrenic voice performance here. What I can promise you is that you will never ever find more than 20 seconds to calm down a little bit because the album is such much full of energy (negative and positive) so it is a wild hunt from the start to the end. But be warned – don't listen to the album while you have a bad day or while you feel unsettled (or while you write your tax return)

The whole album really isn't an easy listening experience because a lot of parts on it don't let to be explored too easily. It is a little bit like cracking a Brazil nut. It is very hard to open it but once you get to open it you can truly enjoy the content. So enjoy the drizzling rain but don't be surprised if you get totally soaked by some really cold blackish acid rain.

Rating: 8 out of 10 black rainbows