Formed in 1999 in Saint Petersburg, Russia, Canada-based Stalwart has built a legacy on crushing grooves and intense riffs across six full-length albums. After sharing stages with metal legends like Kataklysm and Behemoth, the band went on hiatus in 2019 but is now making a powerful return with their upcoming album Tempus Edax Rerum.
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Rooted in a classic prog rock ethos, “The Master” is the fourth single from the upcoming album by Stalwart. The track is a killer mix of progressive metal with some groove and thrash vibes. It kicks off with a string intro that leads into some super meaty, face-melting riffs, super tasty. The groove gets you headbanging hard, and then it dives into some atmospheric prog rock territory with intense drums and powerful riffing, before returning to those groovy riffs.
The vocals go from growly to raspy, matching the epic, heavy sound. The song then shifts into a moody, neo-gothic piano section, followed by sweet riff breakdowns. It wraps up with an insane finish, demonic vocals and a doom-laden sound that’ll leave you hooked.
While structured in a thrash/groove metal sound, the song contains myriad elements. The opening will remind you of bands like Death and Opeth, while also containing elements of Dimmu Borgir and SOD. The keys synths here are something to truly savour while having a musical canvas which blends the technical with atmospheric. Do not give this one a miss, if you’re a metalhead or like interesting music. Stalwart has hit a home run with this one!
We talk to them about their music and the song.
1. Stalwart has been in the metal scene since 1999, and you’ve shared the stage with some of the biggest names in extreme metal like Behemoth, Amon Amarth. How has your sound evolved over the years, and what elements of your early work have remained constant in your upcoming album Tempus Edax Rerum?
Hi, Leonid – guitars/keyboards – here. Stalwart was created with an idea in mind to combine dissimilar elements on top of a heavy riffs foundation, and basically, we have kept this vision through all those years. Of course, we had slightly different influences on different albums as time passed and the metal scene evolved. You mentioned Behemoth, for whom we once opened – yeah, the Polish death metal scene was a big inspiration for us in the late 2000s. At that time, the foundation of our sound evolved from more thrash metal-oriented tunes to a death metal-like sound. As for Tempus Edax Rerum, I would say it is like a summary of what we did on previous releases, combining groovy riffs, blast beats, memorable choruses, cinematic keyboards, clean guitar insertions, and even throat singing.
2. “The Master” opens with a haunting, almost cinematic string section that sets a very eerie tone. Can you tell us about the inspiration behind this and how it ties into the overall theme of the song?
This song had a lot of inspirations – from S.O.D.-style thrash/hardcore riffage to Dimmu Borgir-style keyboard passages. When we just started rehearsing it, it was a more straightforward thrash/groove metal song, but eventually, it developed into something more diverse and complex as more elements were added to it.
3. The song reminds me of a mix of Death and Opeth, atmospheric at times and technical. What bands or musical styles have influenced this blend, and are there any unexpected genres or artists that inspire your songwriting?
As for me personally, a really big influence was 70s classic rock, especially art rock – the type of music more frequently called progressive rock nowadays. Bands like Jethro Tull, Van Der Graaf Generator, and King Crimson were really able to create music without genre boundaries, remaining organically consistent at the same time. So we are trying to do something similar, but essentially being metal.
4. You’ve worked with producers Wojtek and Slawek Wieslawski at Hertz Studio, who are known for their work with bands like Vader and Behemoth. How did their influence shape the sound of your earlier albums, and what was it like working with them in the studio?
It was a really great experience for us; they are excellent producers, and we learned a lot working with them. We were really impressed by their super detailed, scrupulous approach to production, which still never loses the big picture. As for Tempus Edax Rerum, we did everything on our own, including tracking, mixing, and mastering, but we largely based it on the experience we gained while working with Slawek and Wojtek.
5. What is your opinion on the Russian metal scene, do you think the scene has changed since Stalwart’s early days? How does it compare to the metal scenes in other countries, particularly the US or Canada, where you’re now based?
The problem with the Russian musical landscape is that there are two extremes – mainstream with only a limited set of genres, and complete underground, with almost nothing in between. So you naturally want to break through to the worldwide scene, which is not easy because the Russian scene has always been a little isolated.
Some bands have made significant international success, like Arkona, and especially Slaughter to Prevail, who have become really big recently, but these are only a few exceptions.
Unfortunately, nowadays really bad things are happening – the ongoing war and all related issues, so the Russian scene is even more isolated than ever before.
Here is Canada, I feel like metal scene is much more integrated in whole music industry, so there are lot more possibilities, but competition is stronger as well. I currently play drums in Vancouver based band Thirteen Goats and I feel like here it is easier to move forward.
6. How do you approach balancing technical brutality with more melodic, atmospheric sections in your music?
I would say we try to build a solid riffs foundation first, and then add some strange and atmospheric elements somewhere on top of it or in between. Sometimes, different parts of the same song are composed on different instruments – this gives the song space and brings another dimension to it. When the basics of the song are done, we think about what we can add to make it sound like a journey.
7. Since your hiatus in 2019, the metal landscape has shifted in many ways. How has being spread across different countries and continents influenced your creative process, and how did you reconnect to create Tempus Edax Rerum after being apart for so long?
Well, long story. Actually, all the songs on Tempus Edax Rerum were written when we were still together in the same place. When plans for my relocation to Canada were fixed, we started to figure out what to do with the band. We had a bunch of songs more or less ready, so we decided to make a new record. But we were not in time to finish the process before I left, so in remote mode it lasted for quite a long time. It was, in fact, a hiatus, but at the same time, work was going on little by little, and eventually, on the very last day of 2023, we got the final mix ready.
8. “The Master” is the fourth single from Tempus Edax Rerum. What can fans expect from the rest of the album, and how does it continue to push the boundaries of the Stalwart sound? Are there any themes or concepts that tie the album together?
About the lyrical concept – all lyrics on this album belong to our new vocalist, Pavel. Actually, we’ve been together for quite a while – he joined us soon after our previous long play, Tectonic, was recorded, so we played numerous shows and also recorded and released some cover versions for various tribute compilations. However, Tempus Edax Rerum is our first time working on an album together. He wrote all the lyrics, and it is a semi-conceptual record telling the stories of a pantheon of dying gods. Also, Pavel introduced throat singing, which we haven’t really used before. Musically, as I mentioned, Tempus Edax Rerum is a sort of summary of everything we did previously – cinematic atmospheric arrangements on top of a solid groovy death/thrash platform. I would say it is dark, diverse, intense, and very listenable.
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