Written by Kep
Stellar Remains – Wastelands
> Death metal
> Queensland, Australia
> Releasing February 16
> Gutter Prince Cabal Records
One-man projects have nearly always been a thing in the metal scene, but it sure feels like we’ve been increasingly more and more flooded with them in recent years, especially since COVID forced us all into our homes in 2020. The rise of affordable and accessible production equipment has also contributed, and we’ve gotten to the point where it seems like every musician has a Scarlett 2i2 and Ableton or Audacity whatever. And yes, while this has led to an astronomical increase in bedroom black metal projects, it’s also been the catalyst for a wealth of impressive solo death metal acts. Some, like Mycelium and Light Dweller, handle production in-house, literally, while others, like Meshum or Alchemy of Flesh, shell out for studio time. But regardless, you’re getting the pure songwriting and performance of a single person’s talent, which often produces particularly focused listens. So too with Brisbane’s Stellar Remains.
The product of multi-instrumentalist Dan Elkin, Stellar Remains is a new project out of Queensland, and Wastelands is its first outing. The EP sits firmly in the nebulously-defined “subgenre” of cosmic death metal, taking a cue from acts like Devoid of Thought and Blood Incantation. In concept, you’d think that would provide a decent idea of what to expect musically: progressively inclined death metal with varied song structures and plenty of that voluminous spacey-ness in both the songwriting and texture. Wastelandsdefinitely delivers on this front—it’s quite progressive, often unpredictable, and channels much of that rugged alien landscape aesthetic that we expect. But it does some things that are rather surprising, also, and that help Elkin’s project establish a distinct identity of its own.
The runtime is a brisk but substantial 26 minutes, certainly on the longer side for an EP, comprising six tracks which include an intro and an ambient interlude. That leaves four full-fledged songs to be the true body of the record, and their length is backloaded, with the EP’s final two tracks standing at over seven minutes each. Luckily (because they hold over half the total runtime between them) these two contain some of the strongest writing here. The title track in particular is a fascinating listen, opening quietly with sweeping Western-ish copper tones that conjure images of windswept alien deserts, building to narrative progressive instrumental work that culminates in immensely satisfying aggressive rhythmic work over blasts. Elkin’s vocals don’t enter until the song is near the halfway point, and when they do it’s in more drawn-out, anguished fashion than we’ve heard before. Later he uses clean vocals reminiscent of Ne Obliviscaris and then harsh semi-cleans, scream-singing with power and emotion over wailing guitar and brutally pounding drums.
It’s in these places of melody and emotion that Elkin’s work shines the brightest here on Wastelands. Yeah, there’s plenty of chunky punishing death metal shit—the main riff of “Obsolescence”, for example, is a thick syncopated beast that meshes nicely with Elkin’s animalistic midrange bellowing yells—and you’ll find that when he wants to dive forward with classic running double-kick underneath and hefty chugging above, he can do that with the best of ‘em, developing themes with sliding chromatic motion and squealing pinches. But it’s when the music gets warm, melodic, and thoughtful that it feels most magnetic. Even intro “Ceaseless Charade of the Living Dead” gets in on this, raising a distant distorted melodic line over its hypnotic repetitive riff pattern, drawing your ear into the vivid and desolate world of unknown planets.
“Weeping on the Shoulder of Memory” embraces this side of Elkin’s songwriting most wholly, breaking its initial caustic belligerence for a spacious psychedelic solo with warm burnished timbre, then utilizing clean vocals sunk into the texture for a plaintive passage of emotion. His grungy cleans are a miss for me, at least when it comes to the tone itself—I find it far more effective when he mixes in that harsh grit in the title track—but I’m sure they’ll hit for others, and the melody feels honest and organic. “Weeping” is by no means a “soft” song, really only relaxing for that spacey solo, but it uses its more emotionally nuanced approach to great effect.
Wastelands was recorded at Black Blood Audio with Noob Heavy favorite Brendan Auld (Resin Tomb, Descent, Feculent), and it sounds pretty darn good. It’s got heft but the mix isn’t overwhelmingly packed, and there’s nuance in the way that Elkin’s wide range of guitar tones all feel part of one whole, without any sound or moment sticking out in an unobtrusive way. Even the bass, the most inconspicuous part of his performance, has thickness and depth to it. This well-tailored production is nicely fit to Elkin’s overall style, and I’d point to the middle section of album closer “Cloudbearer” as the greatest evidence: it allows for beauty, bright color, and spacious calm, then builds massively on the lower end to set up a towering wall of riffage and roars.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Wastelands, I think, is a developing project getting its feet underneath itself and establishing an identity, and that identity is something I want to hear more of. Stellar Remains offers a well-written package of cosmic exploration that dishes out plenty of punishment, but that isn’t afraid to reach out and channel the beauty and longing of those alien landscapes it depicts. Here’s hoping it isn’t long before we find out what Dan Elkin can do with a full-length.