Black Metal For Nerds

I had no idea who Stormkeep is. In fact, “Tales Of Othertime” was a blind buy based solely on the artwork by Les Edwards. I found the album while scrolling through new albums that were scheduled to be released in November. The album art showing a wizard with staff in hand, perhaps planning a journey to a castle in the distance. But there is a dragon blocking his path, guarding this unknown castle.

Stormkeep is fairly new, a 5-piece epic black metal outfit from Colorado. Initially formed in 2017, “Tales Of Othertime” is their first full length released on November 19th, 2021 on Ván Records. Stormkeep features Blood Incantation / Wayfarer drummer Isaac Faulk, however he has guitar/vocal duties here. Who knew Colorado could put out some black metal? It must be the snow. Stormkeep is very much inspired by fantasy; unfortunately I could not find a lyric sheet prior to this review but I heard plenty of references to magic, wizards and celestial dragons. Get your cosplay costume and your 20-sided die, you’re in for a ride.

Dungeons And Dragons And Black Metal

It’s a couple of days after Thanksgiving and I’m still recovering from the the awkward family social functions so I’m am going to cut to the chase. “Tales of Othertime” is good. Six tracks of epic, black metal-ness. This album may be appealing to my biases, but the Emperor influences are very much present. Although I’m hearing more Jon Nödtveidt than Ihsahn in the vocals.

This next part may come across as a negative, but hear me out. The music does not bring anything new to the table. We’ve heard this style of black metal before with Dissection, Sacramentum, Emperor. There are drums, guitars, bass, synths and vocals – songs are arranged competently. It mixed and mastered well so you hear what it is intended to be heard. Drum kicks can be a bit punchy during blast beats and double bass sections, so make sure the bass in your EQ isn’t set too high, otherwise your gonna get the *ppmmff ppmmff ppmfff* of the kicks overpowering your speakers during the blast beats; and please use a good set of over the ear headphones, like these Beyerdynamic DT770 Pros that are on my Amazon Wishlist *hint hint*.

But GODDAMN are the riffs catchy. The synths come in at the right moment, shouty clean vocals (think Borknagar) capping off the chorus then gliding right into an epic guitar solo. The final moments to the opening track “The Seer” is a perfect example of this. Because the production is clean (for the most part), it is an incredible listening experience. I highly enjoyed myself; there are no duds on this album; it’s an end of the year contender for sure.

Just Being Nitpicky

The album is a bit short. There are two instrumentals totaling about 6 minutes. The first one is straight Summoning-worship and the second is a acoustic interlude. On first listen I didn’t like ’em. I wrote in my notes that these two tracks were out of place, that they were added as filler to bloat the album total runtime beyond 40 minutes so it didn’t feel like EP. While writing this review I had the album playing on repeat. The album played 3 times in a row and I have say I changed my mind. The interludes compliment the other tracks very well, they are in no way out of place when you listen to the album as a whole.

The 4 times I have listened to this album, I’m still wanting more. I’m going to have to check out their prior EP, “Galdrum“, which by the way totally stole the album art from Abigor.

The Past Is Alive

I am ecstatic that I found this album, especially in the way that I did. Remember those days of thumbing through the record store racks, coming across an album or band you had never heard of and no idea what they sounded like? It could be total shit or a hidden gem. As you know, clues can be found in the band name, logo and album art but you don’t know for sure unless you bought it. Album art (or a trusted friend recommendation) is all we had to reference before the internet came and ruined everything 🙂

Before the mainstreaming of the internet making music easier to find, finding quality new music was a huge gamble, you could lose that lunch money you’ve been saving up and you went home a giant turd. Or you found the next masterpiece that refused to leave your Discman. This is assuming the record store even carried the record. This album reminded me of those experiences.

You millennials and gen-Zer’s have it too easy.

This is a 5-star banger all day. Comment below (don’t forget the Facebook page too!), let me know what you think of Stormkeep’s “Tales Of Othertime” and tell me why I’m wrong, I want to hear your opinion!

-Eric Reeder 11/27/21

• Standout Track: A Journey Through Storms
• For fans of: Borknagar, Bal-Sagoth, Dissection, Emperor, Dark Fortress

Don’t forget to check out other reviews too! The new Cave Bastard – “Wrath Of The Bastard” review just dropped, you may remember them from SD Metal Swap Meet 2021 where they played a killer set! I’m not too proud to promote myself, check out my other reviews too! Swallow The Sun “Moonflowers” and Worm “Foreverglade”. Still waiting for “Moonflowers” to “click”.

FYI: I embedded the full album below but the compression is absolutely terrible on YouTube. For the optimal listening experience, get the CD or FLAC (or other lossless audio file) and EQ it to your preference.