siLLy puPPy Originating from Qaanaaq, one of the most northern villages of Greenland’s west coast, the mysterious J started his one man project STROMPTHA in 2009 and somewhere along the line longed for somewhere warmer and ended up in Toulouse, France. In 2015 he released his debut EP titled NOCRONIRISME which features two long tracks that both extend past the 14 minute mark.

J plays all instruments which as far as i can tell consists of only the guitar, bass, drums and keyboards as well as handling vocal duties. J also took on all the tasks as composer, recording engineer and mixer. The music is a depressive doom laden type of atmospheric black metal that evokes the icy lifeless landscapes from whence J came and matches the darkness of the cover art quite well.

The title track takes the typical epic atmospheric black metal approach and ratchets up creepy synth backings with heavily distorted guitars joining in and the expected raspy vocals that are so common in the black metal world by now. The tempos creep up just past the midway point but do employ blastbeats although they are subdued beneath the murky din of the guitar haze. The compositional style is more sophisticated than a generic black metal band and has a few twists and turns.

The second track “Sublime Drowning of the Soul” sounds quite different with a completely different riffing style and a more groovy bass line. The drumming is more subordinate and the synthesized atmospheres are more active and provide a murky counterpoint to the almost black n roll groove. J’s vocals are more subdued as he tries to outshout the distorted din. The track is overall more energetic and less mopey, even angry. It also exceeds in a generic compositional forward march and has a few segments of diversity without exiting the atmospheric frigidness and distortion of the guitar.

This music indeed evokes the harshness of life beyond the Arctic Circle and is definitely music from the most northern corridors of the planet just a hop, skip and puddle jump from the North Pole. While i wouldn’t call this OMG original in its approach, STROMPTHA has managed to at least create something with distinct personality mostly through the creative keyboard use that uses the atmospheric elements as another instrument. There are moments when the drumming is a little canned but otherwise not a bad release at all. This one is followed by his 2018 release “Odium Vult.”