Review: “Wastelands” by Stellar Remains

The promise of powerful, intricate and diverse Death Metal with some furious bone crushing rhythms has brought all the boys to the yard like Kelis did with “Milkshake” and on paper, before even a note has been heard, “Wastelands” has us intrigued. It’s the debut record from Stellar Remains, the solo project of Brisbane Australia based multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Dan Elkin which in itself, aside from Australia being a hotbed of Metal talent in all genres might not mean all that much but the names attached to the project do. The first of those is Brendan Auld (Resin Tomb, Idle Ruin, Crave Death), a legend in the Australian Death Metal genre, who is not only a multi instrumentalist and vocalist of great reputation across many projects but also runs Black Blood Audio. He sat in the producers chair and claims mixing and engineering responsibilities on this one. Next up is Simón Da Silva (Voidescent, Korpituli, Aversio Humanitatis) who mastered the record and also has a great many strings to his bow and lastly Brisbane artist Jon Webber (Lurid Orb, Idle Ruin, Deathrays) who contributed a stunning piece of cover art. None of those three would have been involved with this project if it wasn’t something special now, would they?

The haunting stare into the post apocalyptic wasteland that is “Ceaseless Charade of the Living Dead” makes for an opening cut of unexpected grandeur despite its relatively short duration. A melancholic atmosphere with eerie notes delicately builds before the drums come into play, giving it drive and a little blood and thunder in tasteful fashion. The introduction-less “Obsolescence” comes kicking and screaming to life with caustic vocals almost instantly, an infectious dark energy and distinctive blackened quality exactly what you’d expect from anything that had been within 50 yards of Auld’s calloused hands. Churning rhythms delivered with a real gusto make for a savage onslaught, the chunky Death Metal riffs having that barbed and menacing quality of an Apex predator on the hunt in classical time honoured fashion. As if that wasn’t enough of an eye opening experience, the blast beats rain down like rocks from a medieval siege weapon as “Weeping on the Shoulder of a Memory” takes to flight. That then trails off into the realms of Progressive Death Metal with an aching central passage of sublime quality, the accompanying delicate clean vocal moments having a real emotional depth and gravitational pull. This is pain you can from the depths of a black heart which you can feel and it burns like wire.

The juxtaposition between the heavier aspects and the melodic ones is as stunning as the transition between them and that’s even before the dull ache of the piano interlude “The Invisible Man” pulls on the heart strings. That brings to mind the work of The Hope Burden in the process, the musicians sharing the same atmospheric creating abilities. Two cuts which exceed seven minutes make up the final third of this burnt offering, title track “Wastelands” having extended instrumental parts of incredible power. The attention to detail here is as impeccable as the kit work is incredible, the drum sound nailed by Auld to ensure that every Black Metal tinged note is crisp and clean sounding and there is no mud in the water. Attacking in waves, Elkin allows his musicianship to do all the talking and he does everything perfectly. If one criticism was the lack of a solo then lets just say that the music he has created is of incredible depth and texture and doesn’t really warrant that kind of virtuoso flamboyance. Naturally “Cloudbearer” is the grand finale that you crave when listening to this, combining all the elements while also having a real confidence to it and some Crowbar like Sludge Metal riffs for worshipping in the final moments. This doesn’t sound anything like a debut record from anyone should sound, instead sounding like the work of a seasoned musician who knows exactly what they’re doing and how they want to conduct their business [8.5/10]

Track Listing

1. Ceaseless Charade of the Living Dead
2. Obsolescence
3. Weeping on the Shoulder of a Memory
4. The Invisible Man
5. Wastelands
6. Cloudbearer

“Wastelands” by Stellar Remains is out 15th February 2024 via Gutter Prince Cabal Records with pre-orders available over at bandcamp.