STARGAZER
STARGAZER “Bound By Spells”
By Lord Randall
Initially released on Hallowe’en 2023 by Nuclear War Now! Productions on Vinyl + Digital formats, STARGAZER’s “Bound By Spells” EP sees release on CD nearly seven months later via Personal Records. The Adelaide alchemists (or assault brigade, depending on the form their music takes) have been around since the mid-‘90s, spewing forth four albums, splits and EPs, which doesn’t seem like much, when you get right down to it, especially considering the tomblike silence between 2014’s “A Merging To The Boundless” and “Psychic Secretions” of seven years after.
Still and all, “Bound By Spells” finds the trident every bit as immersed in its journey down magical pathways as ever, the eponymous opener at first ponderous, then propulsive. Leads exult briefly at thine captivation, convulsions ensue, trapped in this scattered world of STARGAZER’s forming. Arpeggios scale into black-thrash assault that would shame the much-missed NIFELHEIM and bleed us into “Naughtilus”, a testament to the technical prowess of the band, and a study in how to weld disjointed elements into a cohesive whole.
“Mater Eld” closes, encompassing nearly half of this EP at just under nine minutes. Initially contemplative, clean vocals almost conjuring LÖNNDOM, yet soon enough shifting, revising and reversing itself into one of the most honest attempts at entwining blackness and truly forward-thinking metal about each other I’ve heard of late. Looking for an EP that makes you feel like you just listened to an album? Get “Bound By Spells”.