Band:	Stortregn
Album:	Finitude
Style:	Melodic black metal, Blackened death metal, Technical death metal
Release date:	October 2023

01. Finitude
02. A Lost Battle Rages On
03. Xeno Chaos
04. Cold Void
05. Rise Of The Insidious
06. Omega Axiom
07. De Inferno Solis
08. The Revelation

After reviewing Stortregn’s previous album Impermanence, I had certain hopes concerning where the band would go next. Finitude doesn’t really follow in that direction, but regardless it is an exhilarating slab of technical extreme metal.

To be honest, I shouldn’t really be surprised. What first hooked me on Impermanence, and what I was dreaming for more of on a future Stortregn album, was the hyperactive folky edge to epic opening song “Ghosts Of The Past”, but that was arguably more reflective of their past than their future. Meloblack was part of the Stortregn formula all the way back to their 2008 debut EP, Devoured By Oblivion, and the tech-death death entered the equation more recently. Still, I can’t deny that “Ghosts Of The Past” has dominated by listening habits when it comes to Stortregn since I published that review, so hopes were high for a bit more of that lively hookiness in the tech-death/meloblack/melodeath melting pot that is Stortregn in 2023.

Does Finitude have this? Well, yes and no. I will say that I don’t think there’s a song here that quite lives up to the sheer brilliance of “Ghosts Of The Past”, or perhaps even “Grand Nexion Abyss”. On the flip side, as much as Finitude is, for the most part, a hyperenergetic whirlwind of full-pelt technical metal, Stortregn do still keep a lot of melody within their songwriting, delivered by anything from frenetic solos through to acoustic guitars. The latter, in contrast to the more Nordic metal feel of such moments on previous records (and here), comes in a Latin form during the middle portion of “Xeno Chaos”, one of the softer and more prolonged mid-song detours on the record, and a good example of the progressive current running through Stortregn’s songwriting here.

Nevertheless, the overriding impression that Finitude gives off, at least on the first few listens, is one of overwhelming energy, particularly across the first few tracks. The seamless transitions between several of the songs, much like on the recently reviewed Of Gloom by Chaver, does a lot to dominate the listener’s experience by providing little in the way of a breather. The opening title track does let up from an initial assault of blistering blackened technical riffing for a brief proggy solo jam, but even then the drums keep the pedal to the metal tempo-wise. Outside of these occasional lighter snippets, Stortregn serve up dazzling guitar leads, often melodic, explosive riffs and a percussive assault; the end result is ear-catchingly vibrant to get one hooked, while also been ferocious enough as to overload the senses.

I’ve mentioned the guitars quite a few times already, but it does bear repeating that the incendiary guitarwork is going to be the thing that first draws one’s attention when listening to Finitude; it feels like there is almost always a solo, a lead guitar hook or harmony going on at some point or another. “A Lost Battle Rages On” is an exemplary demonstration of this; yes, there’s a proggy midsection in which a guitar solo is placed in centre stage, but in all the surrounding extreme passages, there’s constantly something going on. It really helps distinguish Stortregn from a lot of other tech-death; most bands in the field obviously have dazzling instrumental proficiency and a high capacity for soloing, but not many bands prioritize it, or in fact melody, to this extent over aggressive complex riffing.

I would say “A Lost Battle Rages On” is perhaps as close as Finitude gets to a successor to “Ghosts Of The Past”, but other memorable moments include the trippy rhythm underlying the softer middle passage of “Cold Void”, the segue from an acoustic melody into harmonizing guitars taking over the same melody in “Rise Of The Insidious”, and the bulldozing groove that kicks in after the brief snippet of ethereal clean vocals in “De Inferno Solis”. Stortregn do little the foot off the pedal slightly in the second half, with each of the final four songs opening with a slower or softer approach, ranging from the doomy, ominous sustain that opens “Omega Axiom” through to the dainty acoustic introduction to closing song “The Revelation”. While each track does ultimately escalate into a blistering assault of the senses, they do sometimes retain some of the charm of those lighter openings, such as when the acoustic guitars are re-introduced while accompanied by blast beats in “The Revelation”.

Comparing Finitude to Impermance, I think the latter perhaps has the highest peaks in terms of memorability, but as an overall experience I’m inclined to consider Finitude the superior album; it’s frenetic, it’s electric, and it does a great job of demonstrating the band’s technical wizardry without sacrificing accessibility or melodic charm.