Stella's new single, Images of Death, reaffirms our belief that the dark-goth artist is destined to be a star of the near-future. Before I continue with my review, I think I should make a confession: I am not a huge fan of the genre Stella is most often associated with. I refer to her as a goth artist myself as we humans by and large seek classification in all things. "Is it like.....?" "That reminds me of...." and so on. But there is something about Stella's songs that demand attention; you have to listen to her lyrics, and concentrate on the music, the bound-duality of both aspects of a song transformed into an unholy trinity when you also add the subject matter of the song itself. Love or loathe her music, you simply cannot ignore it. Furthermore, to simply pigeon hole Stella's music into one genre does her a dis-service. The fact is, her music includes synth-rock-goth-electropop influences, and more than that. But her music is dark. And that is why most of us place her in the Goth category. It links to most minds a starting point, a common framework if you will, from which we can then seek to discuss her music. As for me, despite my confession above, I LOVE HER MUSIC. Each and every track sends my mind on flights of dark fantasy, as images of black magic, death, sex, erotic obsessions and supernatural landscapes fill my thoughts in a kaleidescope of jaw-dropping narratives straight out of H.P. Lovecraft, Bram Stoker, Edgar Allan Poe and Dean Koontz. You should know that Stella's goth isn't the glossy stylised goth of Twilight, rather, it is the full on bloody gore and exposed flesh of the best in Hammer Horror films of the 70s. And so it is with Images of Death, a song dedicated to her mother, but which also speaks to the veils between life and death, need and want, loss of someone but the loss of self. The narrative of the song explores the grief of losing someone so important, but ties it into the impact on the self; that is, this death affects me, as I am the one left behind, and that isn't fair, not now. Stella says all this and more, in one, deceptively simple line: "I am finally found and totally lost" with its layer upon layer of meaning. There's so much more I could say about the meaning in her words but I know that Stella wants her listeners to work out her meanings for themselves, to have their own visual narrative of her songs. Which is how it should be. People should make up their own minds on meaning when it comes to art. So what can I talk about? Well, how about the deceptively simple music arrangement? I love the keyboard loop that begins the song and plays (with only slight variation) throughout, grabbing your attention from the first beat but also serving to drive the song forward with urgency. It isn't over-done, it is "simply" the backbone that the rest of the song is, cleverly, built around. Importantly, the beat of the music suits perfectly the subject matter of the song. This isn't a happy-disco-beat on a song all about having your heart torn out by a cheating lover! No, this is a synth-exposition of low notes and carefully crafted heart-beat like notes that mimic electrocardiogram pulses. I also need to make special mention of the lyrics, which are powerful and beautiful, almost poetic. This is even more impressive when your remember that Stella is an Italian, and English is her second language! That said, her accent affected vocal style compliments the music she creates and adds nuances to some of the words as she sings them that the Queen's English enunciation would probably lack. Her production and mix- which she does herself (and also plays all the instruments)- has a raw feel to it that adds energy without distracting from the song's subject. But again, even here, her production is deceptive. Listen carefully and you'll notice the soft, seductive underlapping vocals that add a haunting depth to the song. Energy and seduction. Life and Death. This is a lady who knows what she's doing. Images of Death will be released in May so keep checking her website at https://stellawembley.com and of course our own Forum and Facebook groups. In the meantime, go buy her previous EP All That I Need (see Nick's review) and her merchandise. Stella Wembley is THE Dark-Goth Siren of the station. Can't wait to see the video and to see what she does next.