This semester (spring 2009) I am taking a course whose title translates to "Maths for users". The problem is a man called Gulliksen who has written an absolutely dreadful introductory book. Amongst other things he skips much of what is necessary for anyone with an average knack for maths, like me, to understand what he's talking about. On the positive side, at least I have bands like Stumm whose music has helped me deal with the angr that this course has caused me. ('Angr' is a Norse/Old English term for grief/misery, but which became 'anger' in modern English. A very fitting description, I daresay. Oh, by the way, did I mention my fondness for the song title 'Chokehold Narcosis'?) The feeling I get after few hours of maths is usually amendable by half an hour of highly aggressive and hideous doom/sludge. In other words, that's why I'm listening to Stumm.

The band themselves seem to be more concerned with grander issues than my own. What I gather from the music and the images in the booklet - there are no lyrics printed in the inlay - is that the world stinks. There are so many ways a life can be fucked up with alcoholism, suicidality, poverty/homelessness and, of course, corruption. In other words, Stumm follows the anti-humanity path of Grief and Noothgrush both musically and lyrically. Truly I find Stumm to be one of the ugliest creatures among the younger doom/sludge bands, and that is much because they follow the oldschool ideal of a raw and unpampered mastering. I'd also like to add that Jukka Mattila is one of the most aggressive vokillers I've heard in a long while. I'd be thoroughly impressed if his voice survives more than a few years of that abuse.

'I' was nearly three years old when I first discovered it. It's never too late to grab hold of a good slab of music, unless it's sold out. This gem isn't and thus I'd readily recommend it to anyone into the genre, especially those who prefer the old school. In my ears, Stumm's music lies way up amongst the old doom/sludge gods when it comes to quality.

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