Steny Lda (Стены Льда) - Стены Льда (Steny Lda) (CD)

Review
Chronicles of Chaos
7/10
01.11.2011

Steny Lda, meaning Walls of Ice in Russian, write their band’s name and album title in the original Russian Cyrillic letters. The band hails from Moscow, but don’t worry about texts and lyrics in Russian either. There are none, simply because Steny Lda is an all-instrumental group, playing an atmospheric kind of post hardcore meets shoegaze, that, I dare say, reminds a bit the latest work of Hypomanie (this year’s _A City in Mono_), with a little bit of Klimt 1918 thrown in.

Delivering purely instrumental music is way more challenging than playing one that is fronted by, or screened with, the instrument of the human vocal chords; it does not allow room for errors, does not leave a hiding place for the artist to flee to or hide behind the voice. Error in the musical plot here cannot be redeemed by the vocal tool; instrumental music takes a risk in letting itself be exposed, showcasing exactly what it is without a redeeming factor, no vocals that may drown the fallacy, no tool that will aid a band to half-compensate for its aural contents or the lack thereof. Instrumental music leaves the musician naked, exposed for all to see, aided by his talent, passion and skills, the qualities of which are plain for all to see.

Filling an album’s worth with nothing but music generated by instruments and having no vocalist that can, in most cases, bridge a gap, blur the blind spots where the music is at its weakest, is a task usually taken for granted, but harder to accomplish than one might think.

In addition, if a group can make the listener oblivious to the fact its music is devoid of a singer, being often the focal point of an album, then only one conclusion can be drawn: the music is good, per definition. So good, it needs no additives.

The fact there are relatively few pure instrumental bands out there only adds to the argument being instrumental is not for the feeble. It is indeed fucking hard to satisfy and be perfect at what you’re doing, consciously left bare for all to see and hear, and ultimately judge.

Now, I love human vocals; at times I think they are the most important musical instrument out there. And yet, I love Steny Lda’s instrumental delivery.

Not taking the band’s instrumental self-titled debut album for granted, the band’s music is as good as any band’s delivering no-frills instrumental soundscapes comprised of one third post rock, one third shoegaze and one third atmospheric hardcore or post-metal of sorts.

The music is at times theatrical, exciting, powerful and well-written. This quality recording needs no human vocals to become an accomplished work. It is potent the way it is; no additives required.

In a post modern world whose attention span averages at a few seconds, it is a welcome thing to encounter a band that writes music as effortlessly beautiful, as engaging, as this little album; boldly calling forth the thinking, patient, intelligent listener within us with seemingly casual ease, aiming at the common denominator of our collective mind, reminding us what we have so thoroughly striven to forget…

Author: Chaim Drishner

Review
The Streets
5/10
23.02.2011

Steny Lda (Walls of Ice) er debutanter og deres selvtitulerte verk ble sluppet på tampen av fjoråret (2010 altså). Plateselskapet vil ha dem til å være en av de beste representantene som aktiv utvikler den russiske post-metalscenen, men det er nok en sannhet med modifikasjoner. Sjangermessig havner de mellom atmosfærisk sludge metal og post-rock, så den post-metaltaggen er i grunn ikke så gal. At de skal være blant de beste i Russland tviler jeg på, men det kan jo selvfølgelig hende. I så fall står det dårlig til med denne sjangeren der borte.

På 36 minutter presenterer de åtte låter som alle er titulert enten med tre bokstaver eller tre tall. Hva det skal være godt for eller symbolisere aner jeg ikke, men det har lite å si for det musikalske innholdet. Jeg har just omtalt Catacombes debut på samme selskap og der påpekte jeg at det ikke er nybrottsarbeid denne typen «post-musikkaktører» bedriver, men at fokuset ligger på låtskrivingen. Hos Steny Lda stemmer ikke det helt. De eksperimenterer på sett og vis med soundet siden de til tider har et meget metallisk snitt og bruker både hardcore-vokal og en ren, syngende variant. Vokalen funker greit de stedene den dukker opp, men stort sett er det lange instrumentale passasjer som utgjør russernes førstefødte.

Å skulle dissekere musikken for å lage en teoretisk gjennomgang av hvorfor jeg syns musikken blir kjedelig og lite engasjerende har jeg ikke kunnskap nok til å gjøre, og det er strengt tatt heller ikke nødvendig. Musikk er og blir en måte å uttrykke seg på som enten treffer deg eller som går inn det ene øret og ut det andre (pluss litt variasjoner på de to temaene). Når det er sagt er dette langt unna å være dårlig, men plata havner nok ikke i cd-spilleren igjen med det første.

Author: Rune

Review
Imperiumi
5.5/10
29.03.2011

Venäjä on melko lailla harmaata aluetta, mitä tulee musiikin tunnettavuuteen ja sen päätymiseen kansainvälisempään levitykseen. Metallimusiikin puolesta maa on tullut ainakin viimevuosina tutuksi enemmän oikealla kallistuneista, kansallisylpeyttä korostavista folkmetal-yhtyeistä, mutta maa pitää luonnollisesti sisällään paljon muutakin.

Debyyttialbuminsa julkaiseva Steny Lda (Walls of Ice) on pääsääntöisesti instrumentaalista ja tunnelmallista post-rockia. Kitaramatto on rauhallisimmillaan melko soljuvaa, ja kuulaat kitarasävelet vaihtuvat aina välillä raskaaseen vyörytykseen, mutta levyssä on kuitenkin piirteitä, mitkä syövät sen tehokkuutta ja järkevyyttä oleellisesti.

Levyn selkein puute on sen ohut soundimaailma. Varsinkin raskaissa kitaraosuuksissa sen karuus tulee, no, karulla tavalla ilmi ja ikävimmillään äänimaailma jopa särkyy kitaroiden vuoksi. Lisäksi raskaissa hetkissä satunnaiset huudot taustalla ovat paitsi erittäin ärsyttäviä, myös täysin turhia. Myös oikeaa laulua kuullaan kappaleessa 1-0, ja sekin on silti edelleen heikkoa ja tarpeetonta. Lopuksi kokonaisuutta rikkoo vielä selkeä linjattomuuskin. Vaikka yleisesti akustisten ja raskaiden osuuksien yhteys on hyvin toteutettu, niin seassa on irrallisen kuuloisia hetkiä, joista esimerkkinä edellämainittujen vokaaliosuuksien ohella parit stoner-osuudet, joista etenkin C-O-W:in alku on ehtaa Kyussia ja samalla kuin täysin eri levyltä.

Steny Ldalla on kyllä potentiaalia, mutta yhtye ei ole kyennyt hyödyntämään sitä. Jos bändillä ei ole täysin tarkkaa kuvaa, mitä se haluaa olla, niin ennen kaikkea tuotannollinen puoli syö levyn mahdollisuuksia. Tämä on sinällään harmi, sillä vaikka yleinen linja nyt on melko tuttua peruskauraa, niin aika ajoin musiikki toimii ihan mukavasti. Tällaisenaan levyn toteutuksesta ja tuloksesta jää kuitenkin mieleen lähinnä omaa linjaansa hakevan yhtyeen alkutaival, ja se ei nyt täysin vakuuta.

Author: Janne Rintala

Review
Metal Revolution
4/10
22.06.2011

It’s been said, that ‘post metal’ is slowly conquering the world, but it will never conquer me! I simply don’t understand this subgenre of metal with odd and bizarre harmonies and rumbling metal. Steny Lda (Russian for ‘Walls of Ice’) is even more bizarre as their album is a self-titled Steny Lda containing eight song of total playing time of 36 minutes, with titles like: “1-0-2”, “O-M-G”, “7-4-0”…

The worse thing is the artwork with pictures of wide stretching and snow landscapes. Like the artwork for this album the music they present here is equally empty and boring, mostly being a result of blend of few different genres like Post rock, electro, instrumental sounds. Vocals are rare, but when present it is rather thin and mostly high-pitched.

As the songs progress, the intensity picks up, but the boredom doesn’t vanish. It doesn’t help either when everything surrounding this record is written in Cyrillic (Russian) signs and letters, making it impossible for all outsiders to understand. Even the lyrical content is in Russian and can therefore hardly appeal to anyone outside of the Russian speaking area. Mysticism is good, but stupidity is not.

I don’t doubt in their musical and instrumental quality as the basics are already there. Production is also satisfying and with few major changes, this band can become the pioneers of Russian Post Rock/Metal scene.

Author: bato

Review
Antichrist zine 11/2011

Hm, and this Russian band doesn’t catch me at all… They plays post metal but I do not think this is metalJ, in spite of hard guitars etc… This is some modern music with depressive tunes, and atmosphere of solitude. Eight songs of variative music, with both slow and fast rhythms and clear vocals. For sure the album is emotional and heavy but… too modern. I have no too many words, so just if you like post metal – try this, as musicif professional and for fans should be interesting.