I fell heavily for Still, both musically and aesthetically, when the debut album {} was released in 2021 through Trepanation Recordings. There was something within the darkness of the blackened post-hardcore which resonated deeply with me and I also fell hopelessly in love with the striking artwork and screen printing. It wasn’t all bleak and wallowing however as the final few tracks of {} appeared to offer light but that has all but been extinguished with A Theft. Holding a mirror to reality has sent Still down a dissonant path of atmospheric cathartic rage and where {} offered any hope, life has strangled it. This is a miserably beautiful piece of work which puts the band high in the ranks of the finest blackened post-hardcore available today.
With that said, through the dense gloom, A Theft still manages to convey the emotions of the first album, and if anything the sheer depth of the atmosphere here actually offers more catharsis than ever before. As with {} it isn’t a simple musical weight that drives this album to be heavy. Take the opening throes of second track ‘Only Time Will Tell’ where the guitar churns out angled high notes and heavy rapid chords whilst the drums seem to be getting hit by more than just four limbs. If Ulcerate had a love of post-hardcore rather than technical death metal then we may have a match for the musical heft on display here.
In the years following {} the band has suffered traumatic personal family loss as well as internal events such as parting with its previous singer. With Fraser Briggs (guitars) and Jack Green (drums) taking on vocal duties, those personal experiences set their mark on the album. That replacement in vocals actually pushes these songs deeper as the delivery sits wonderfully in the music to emit feeling in the words but also offer extra layers of musical accompaniment. What sums up the album for me is the way I kept thinking each track couldn’t get heavier before it then does. I remarked when the stand alone single ‘Light’ was released that only Still could produce something so foreboding with a name with the opposite meaning, then I heard the following track ‘Dark’. The fact it is then followed by the most abrasive and shortest track in ‘Oscillate’ just feels brilliant. The weight just keeps increasing as those songs flow.
The emotional debt that is carried on A Theft can lead to it not being an easy listen and for those of a purer soul it may not fit every occasion. Even I found that this morning as I was giving it another listen while walking the dog whilst the morning sun set the clouds on fire. I loved it then but it hit me in a totally different way an hour later when I had started work and had issue after issue to deal with. I find that the more problems I bring to the music the more it helps me clear. Still has been on a journey to get A Theft to this point and you can feel every ounce of that in this album. If there is any justice, A Theft should be hitting the heights of end of year lists, it certainly will do on mine.
