This year up and coming Swedish outfit Together to the Stars have emerged with their third full-length album ‘The Fragile Silence’ and straight up it’s 40+ minutes of some of the sickest post black metal you’re likely to hear all year. Recorded between 2022 to 2024 and Released on powerhouse label Northern Silence Records, The Fragile Silence is the sound of a band absolutely nailing the delicate balance between maintaining black metal intensity and lush post rock atmospheres.
The opening track Mercurius sets the stage atmosphere wise for what level of quality you’re going to hear on this one. It’s characterised by super intricate arpeggio guitars alongside some of the lushest opening pads, Truly immersive kick off.
With the more post rock side I also have to pay credit to the essentially seamless mixing of beautiful classical elements, particularly in tracks like “The Last Glacier,” it gives a really solid contrast to the high-speed trem guitar sections that push the album forward and it makes for a way more “dynamic” listen.
In terms of the actual black metal side, the heavy sections of the album are straight up sick as fuck. Just pure raw emotion and intensity from a group of dudes clearly going hard at it and honestly What’s most refreshing is the authenticity that radiates from this album. It’s really easy for bad blackgaze/post black metal to sound too cornball and disaffected but this album doesn’t do that, it just sounds earnest the whole time.
The vibe of this album is great aswell, I don’t like doing the comparison game too much but i will say a big factor in how much i enjoy stuff is the sort of vibe it gives off which is probably why I enjoyed this record so much. I think for me I like this because it has that kind of “forest ritual” atmospheric vibe without it being too “fantasy based”, It’s just a honest well conceived record, I think if you’re a fan of bands like Olhava, you’ll enjoy this one.
In summary, Together to the Stars has crafted a solid album start to finish that ventures in a variety of cool directions . It’s unabashedly post-black metal in its execution (which more bands like this should be) and it’s filled with all the solid elements that will resonate with longtime fans of that genre .
If you’re looking for your next post black metal record to binge on a loop, check out The Fragile Silence ( and then go back and listen to their previous release ‘As We Wither’ because that record is fantastic too).
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