Psalms of Conscious Martyrdom – Album

“Shut your eyes for they will burn

The Sun will spit its charring rays

while the hoards begin their march

Shut your ears; for their drums will burst

The shouts and screams of the multitudes, prepare yourself for the worst”

- March of the Saints – Stigmata

These five lines describe the unforgiving fury with which Stigmata’s third full length Psalms of Conscious Martyrdom will hit you. And trust me when I tell you, you will want to feel it make full contact with every bodily altar you posses, while you try to wrap your mind around its ferocious intricacy.

For those of you unfamiliar with Stigmata, they are the pioneering Heavy Metal act in Sri Lanka, the tiny island nation where Heavy Metal as a music genre and culture has seen a revival and expansion of heartening proportions over the last ten or so years. And throughout these ten years, Stigmata have been a torch bearer for the movement having released the country’s first Metal record ‘Hollow Dreams,’ followed by their second studio album ‘Silent Chaos Serpentine.’ And with their third record, ‘Psalms of Conscious Martyrdom,’ Stigmata’s statement to the metal world is one that is ambitious as it is bold – Metal is alive and kicking in Sri Lanka, and Stigmata is ready to wrap the metal world around their psalms and inject it with a venomous dose of what they call ‘Pure Sri Lankan Metal.’

And after giving the album a few hundreds spins on my player, I must say their statement as gallant as it is, makes quite a compelling case.

The record starts off with the seven minute epic ‘Spiral Coma’ that begins with the warm blow of a conch shell that gives way to front-man Suresh De Silva’s whispered growls and shrieks, that in turn welcome the fast paced, intricate and hard-hitting guitar riffs that carry and shift the song from tempo to mind boggling tempo. And from the very start of the record, one of Stigmata’s core musical elements, which is the musical dexterity and chemistry between axe-men Andrew Obeyesekere and Tennyson Napoleon is apparent as they build and weave a guitar partnership that is stylistically contrasting yet complementing. The guitar onslaught which continues throughout the album; with Tennyson’s crunchy riffing style and Andrew’s more fluid and climaxing style of playing; is a solid case as to how guitarists with vastly different playing styles techniques can superbly complement and build on each other.

And while I’m on the subject of guitar work, most tracks off the album are artfully nourished with guitar solos that carry Andrew’s lead guitar trademarks of speed, clarity, fluidity and evocative composition skills. I use the term artfully here for the reason that while Andrew is probably one of the most, if not the most musically advanced members of the band, his solos on the album never seem to overshadow or overwhelm the compositions as a whole. The album’s fourth track the nine minute ‘Nothing’ in particular is a guitar delight with a rapid and power-driven solo by Tennyson leading into a true masterpiece by Andrew that carries enough feel and emotion to quite honestly makes you shut your eyes and feel your very essence carried delicately yet unwaveringly into a musical orgasm. Andrew also does some remarkable solo work on the Album’s only instrumental track ‘If Alpha Meets Omega,’ a track that is a powerful tribute to Andrew’s strong Malmsteen influences, but still carries his own playing idiosyncrasies and composition style.

On bass guitar and drums respectively, Javeen Soysa and Taraka Senewirathne, the two newcomers to the Stigmata family, do a commendable job of keeping up with the complex and challenging music that Stigmata bleeds out, on what is their first full length studio recording. On the album’s second track ‘Purer,’ which is also probably the album’s most straightforward and most approachable track, Soysa pitches in with a short but strong bass solo which adds an almost pre-climax anticipation before the song soars off again. Drummer Taraka too has his shining moments on tracks like ‘The Summoning Cry of Aries,’and the mammoth ‘March of the Saints,’ where he does a solid job of leading and carrying the songs through different time-signature and stylistic changes. While the two might still be in search of their signature touches within the Stigmata sound, within just around two years of being with Stigmata, their effort on Psalms of Conscious Martyrdom is everything their band-mates could hope for.

Topping off and soaring over the instrumental section is Stigmata’s front-man and vocalist Suresh De Silva. And as with the progression from Hollow Dreams to Silent Chaos Serpentine, De Silva has shown significant progress in range, variation, control and vocal strength. While he does not have the crystal clear highs like the Mark Boals or Millie Matjevics of the world, his vocal style does have a raw, almost rustic and powerful quality that make it quite endearing. And as a lyricist and songwriter he is truly in a class of his own. His lyrics might at first read be quite cryptic and hard to analyze, yet they do have a quality that fascinates and wins you over time. And songs like Nothing, Purer and A Dead Rose Wails for Light in particular, quite honestly put him right up alongside lyricists like Warrel Dane in my books.

In terms of recording quality and production strength, the Album is definitely the best piece of metal work I have heard from Sri Lanka. Studio Engineer Ozzie Nugara of Q Audio Sri Lanka, has definitely outdone himself in capturing the audio and assisting with the mixing and mastering of the album. No easy task considering the lack of resources, and especially in-depth knowledge on professional recording and producing of Heavy Metal music in Sri Lanka. That said I would still love to see the band offered the chance to record in a European or American studio abroad with more resources and with someone with more experience (dare I hope for Andy Sneap?) and see what new delights they could conjure up.

With Album’s like Overkill’s Ironbound, Ozzy’s Scream, Blind Guardian’s At the Edge of Time, and Soilwork’s The Panic Broadcast, to name just a few, 2010 has certainly been a year full of hope and good tidings for the coming decade in the metal world. And I well and truly believe that with a few well planned international tours, and the right people listening in, Stigmata is well on their way to finally carving out their own stigmata on the metal world’s skin.

Visit Stigmata’s official Myspace at – Myspace.com/stigmatasrilanka