Review: “Upside Down” by STELL/\RIS

Conceived in Prague Czech Republic in 2019, Progressive Metalcore quartet Stellaris (stylized Stell/\ris) quickly rose to prominence with a pair of singles “Find Your Course” and “Dust of Future” released in 2020 surpassing 166k of Spotify and YouTube streams. The combination of heavy riffs, wide ranging vocals and high octane energy impressing even the most hardened of Metal heads. That success immediately opened the doors for the band to perform at Fajtfest festival, one of the major Czech Metal events in the summer of 2021 while they continued to work on a debut EP in the background, created in collaboration with Vojta Pačesný of Paranoia Production.

Leaving the aforementioned singles cut adrift as standalone, “Upside Down” is a concept release that rides upon the wave of feelings and emotions that turn peoples lives upside down, with lyrical moments pondering depression, anxiety and even death. DJent bounce is coupled with a KoRn like atmospheric during the crushing opener “Echoes of the Past” that also finds frontwoman Nicol playing both angel and devil as her brutal uncleans sound like Tatiana Shmailyuk at her throat shredding finest and her cleans just as stunning, almost operatic at times. She has incredible range and the way in which those vocals have been intertwined in the mix gives the impression of a twin headed vocal attack like Butcher Babies pairing Carla Harvey and Heidi Shepard but not so. The biggest surprise is just how hard the opener slaps. Its deceivingly heavy with an amount of Deathcore influence in the guitars that also have Tech-Metal touches as they play out, the mid track “Bleigh!” fuelled breakdown and the brutal finale are incredible. “HELL-O” then continues the trend with bounce, stomp and endless chug in bombastic style coupled with screams and growls from Nicol who also continues to astound, her evil laughter in the background and a huge downtempo breakdown section are moments of supreme quality.

Nu-Metal influences with the introspective lyrics of “Vicious Circle” which orientate around feelings of anxiety and depression makes an interesting change up as Nicol uses her uncleans on the verses to devastating effect while delivering a clean chorus that has festival level sing-a-long appeal. Again the dynamic within the song is huge, it sounds big and offers plenty of bite, refusing to give up those heavier moments despite the use of the clean vocal and the same can be said of “Reversal” which has if anything pushes the extremes both ways with a bigger chorus and yet a more dynamic Tech-Metal guitar sound. There are moments when it sounds like Emmure and Glass Cloud guitarist Joshua Travis is on the track, it’s that rhythmically creative and even though the band is a relatively young one, the EP has a musical maturity that defies convention. There is nothing raw or unfinished, no ideas that don’t quite work; instead its the polar opposite. Everything sounds polished, vibrant, complete and as it should be. Grand finale “Scars” is the cherry on top, a mournful and melancholic tale about the death of a loved one with an achingly beautiful vocal performance coupled with programming. It’s the only point at which accenting becomes apparent and Nicol gives away that perhaps English is not her first language; but like any foreign film that’s part of the charm and after almost cinematic ending you’ll be left wanting so much more. Jonathan Dolese from Konkrete Studios (Cane Hill, Here Comes The Kraken) took care of the co-production, mixing and mastering of this last one with Simone Pietroforte (Distant, The Hate Project) of Divergent Studios mixing and mastering elsewhere which is curious as there is a coherence across the record that means you don’t notice. This is simply stunning. [9/10]

Track listing

1. Echoes of the Past
2. HELL-0
3. Vicious Circle
4. Reversal
5. Scars

“Upside Down” by STELL/\RIS is out now and available over at bandcamp