On their myspace page, Stigma claim to be deathcore. I am here to refute that claim. They are about as deathcore as Unearth is. As a matter of fact, they’re more metalcore than anything. Darkest Hour, As I Lay Dying, Unearth, I Killed the Prom Queen…yeah, all pretty much comparable.

You could say “but Adam, the vocals are screamy!” That may be true, but so is everything you hear out of the aforementioned bands. “But Adam,” I can hear you ask, “they’ve got growls!” To that, I say “So what.” The guitars aren’t even downtuned. They are copying the same tone Unearth had on the Endless EP with some As I Lay Dying and Prom Queen in there. The solos are good (though short) but everything’s in normal tuning. There’s no blasting. There’s no chromatic runs. There’s no absolutely brutal riffing. There’s just this metallic-hardcore type chugging and trilling. That’s it. That, sirs and madams, is not deathcore. If you want deathcore, see Through the Eyes of the Dead, Graves of Valor, or any of the other bands I’ve reviewed here. This is metalcore through and through.

Drumming is very poppy, as in pop music. There’s hardly any running double bass, occasional blasting. Just a bunch of jazzy rock drumming with some proper metal bits thrown in. And whatever they recorded those drums with…remind me to never buy it. I can barely hear the bass, the snare is almost absent, and the toms are way too loud. Good luck trying to hear the symbols.

Vocally, they’re good for a metalcore band. There’s some gang shouts on every song. I can live with that. The screams are raspy and clear, thankfully. The growls as well (when they show up).

This record is decent for an Unearth clone. If you’re looking for the deathcore they’re selling, you’ll be disappointed. They are from Italy, so I suppose I should cut them a little slack on their mis-genreing. I mean, this IS metal and I am supposed to keep an open mind as a reviewer. The only problem is, even for good metalcore, this is still formulaic. You’ve already heard this from umpteen bands umpteen times and it was umpteen times better too. The fact that this is being marketed as “deathcore” just seems weird. Don’t be fooled.

1.5/5