‘Stigma Eternal’ is the first full-length album of German technical death metal fourpiece Deadborn. According to the band bio, Deadborn’s debut EP ‘Decades Of Decapitation’ of 2004 received nothing but awesome reviews and ensured the band a steadily growing fanbase. Of course, the latter can also mean one more every month, because this, their debut full-length album ‘Stigma Eternal’ does nothing to prove that Deadborn is a good band. In fact, it proves they can only play the one high pace, have no imagination, inspiration or songwriting talent.

This album bores to tears. When you hear the first song ‘Pain Is God’, you think ‘well okay, maybe they just felt like starting off in a high pace to grab the listener’s attention’. But no, hell no, they never quit. Every one of the eight songs on ‘Stigma Eternal’ is played in the exact same pace. This high speed makes every drum bit sound the same and every riff similar to the last. The low, somewhat guttural, yet slightly hissing grunt of singer Mario Pertrovic does nothing to help the album out, since said vocal always sounds equal to whatever he sang before.
It is not until song six, ‘Back To Blackness’ that we are blessed with 20 seconds of something that sounds like a bit of innovation and inspiration: a short, melodical death metal sounding guitar solo, bringing in some much needed light between the dim notes of eternal repetition.

God, do these riffs sound alike.
After ‘BTB’ there’s one more shining moment in the album closer ‘The Crack Of Doom’. At about half of the song, a high, fast solo comes in, reminiscent of the typical Slayer fingers-all-over-the-fretboard-solo, but more structured.
Gosh, it is refreshing to hear some high notes to unbleaken this dark and dreadfully tedious CD.
But, of course this late glimmer of hope is quickly avalanched under the exact same riffs we have come to know during these eight songs. The same speedy monotony that constitutes ‘Stigma Eternal’ ensues.

The conclusion: technically they’re good, but who the hell cares when every song, vocal line and riff is fully interchangeable with the previous one. Research shows that Deadborn’s 2004 EP ‘Decades Of Decapitation’ really did fare very well with reviewers, the general consensus being that Deadborn was a band to keep an eye on. Well, this half-hour of draining monotony called ‘Stigma Eternal’ does everything to get all eyes off Deadborn. It will not do much more than add to the band’s discography. Either the guys of Deadborn step up their game, improve on all of the above and make a great next album, or this record will become their very own eternal stigma.