review: Stellar Death -- mellow & melodic instrumental from USA

Stellar Death

Fragments of Light

8 January 2021

Stellar Death is an instrumental two-piece entity from Washington, D.C., USA. Matt and Scott are or have been involved in Brave, Witnesses, Arise from Thorns, As the Sea Parts, and While Heaven Wept. The music is mostly of a contemplative style. It is not a loud, obnoxious type of guitar sound. Oftentimes it is melodic, bluesy, long-winded passages of easy-listening guitar, aided by background keyboards and/or spacey sounds/ambience. Stellar Death likes for the melodies to float and stay in the air for a while. In some places, there is something that fans would recognize as metal guitar in the sense of the faster tempos or the power chords, although those moods are not the prevalent style and are there as a contrast. In general, it would be accurate to say that this is a relaxing, pleasant listen that allows the audience to focus on the music. In terms of production values, the drums sound mellow and we assume that those are not real, live drums but programmed/sampled sounds. In essence, if you are a metalhead looking for something mellower, ambient, melodic, this recording may spark your curiosity.

Fragments of Light by Stellar Death