Schammasch - Hearts Of No Light review
Band: | Schammasch |
Album: | Hearts Of No Light |
Style: | Black metal, Death metal |
Release date: | November 08, 2019 |
A review by: | musclassia |
01. Winds That Pierce The Silence
02. Ego Sum Omega
03. A Bridge Ablaze
04. Qadmon's Heir
05. Rays Like Razors
06. I Burn Within You
07. A Paradigm Of Beauty
08. Katabasis
09. Innermost, Lowermost Abyss
Hearts Of No Light isn't the full-length exploration of the approach employed on The Maldoror Chants: Hermaphrodite that I was expecting/hoping, but it's yet another excellent album from Schammasch, and still has a surprise or two up its sleeve.
After the three-disc exploration of their sound on Triangle, and an experiment in fusing those styles together more cohesively on the Maldoror Chants EP, Schammasch have taken a step away from the dark ambient side of their sound for the most part (with the exception of the lengthy closer, "Innermost, Lowermost Abyss"), producing something more in line with the first two discs of Triangle, particularly songs such as "Consensus" and "Satori". They retain and regularly display the capacity to erupt into more full-pelt, blast beat-infused black metal, but the album is more dominated by mid-tempo, atmospheric, ritualistic black metal with powerful, intense drumming. Whilst Hearts Of No Light represents something of a return to previous territory for the band instead of a continuation of their most recent path or a completely new direction, it is arguably the most effective implementation of their brand of black metal yet.
The strengths of this album lie in part with the production, particularly the mixing of the percussion; whilst the blast beats during the faster sections sit comfortably in the middle of the mix, clearly audible but not overpowering, the more tribal, tom-dominated sections feel slightly more prominent in the mix, bringing a sheer thunderous force to songs such as "Qadmon's Heir" and "Rays Like Razors" that arguably extends even beyond that of previous powerhouses such as "Satori". The mixing of the various other instruments is similarly excellent, from the echoing cleaner guitars to the buzzsaw tremolo riffing, as well as the various piano and keyboard segments (see the trumpet-esque sounds towards the end of "Ego Sum Omega" and subtle electronic pulses underlying the effective interlude "A Bridge Ablaze"), the culmination of all of which allows the top-level songwriting on Hearts Of No Light to shine.
Examples of this excellent songwriting include "Qadmon's Heir", which opens with blasting and frenetic guitar leads before gradually allowing the atmospheric percussion to dominate over harsh/choral dual vocals during a frantic first half, which then gives way to a slower, menacing, lead-guitar dominated soundscape and finally a hellish combination of religious vocal chants, heavy drumming and noisy guitar. The next track on Hearts Of No Light, "Rays Like Razors", is another highlight, a neat summary of the various elements that Schammasch are becoming increasingly renowned for, including the aforementioned powerful, atmospheric percussion, effective use of guitar leads, menacing riffs of varying tempos, and interplay between harsh black metal vocals and chanting clean vocals. I feel this song perfectly encapsulates the evil ritualistic atmosphere that Schammasch so effectively convey.
In contrast, the song "A Paradigm Of Beauty" is a substantial deviation from the band's established sound, a cleaner, more melodic song with an almost gothic rock vibe, particularly with the simplistic verse rhythms and sung chorus. To underline the extent of the departure here, I have seen the likes of Joy Division and Danzig used as reference points for this song. Such a drastic stylistic jump from the rest of the album has the potential to divide audiences; personally, I think the song is fine, but not at the level of the rest of the record. Additionally, it offers up a bit of whiplash in contrast to the songs that precede and follow it; I've seen people raise similar complaints about the straight black metal track "Chimerical Hope" on The Maldoror Chants, but I feel like that song was built towards by the subtle increase in intensity occurring across the preceding few songs, whilst here the disconnect is more striking.
Another aspect of Schammasch that has been considered divisive is the vocals; although I personally have never had an issue with the harsh vocals the band uses, and in fact find they usually complement the music nicely, I'm aware that a number of other listeners would disagree. One particular instance in which I do dislike the vocals on Hearts Of No Light, however, is the truly bizarre spoken word segment about 2 minutes into "I Burn Within You", 10 seconds of rasped, hysterical warbling accompanied by 'creepy' plinky-plonky piano that could easily have been left out with no negative impact on the remainder of the song.
Those couple of minor gripes aside, Hearts Of No Light is perhaps Schammasch's most accomplished effort to date, more concise and consistent than Triangle, and displaying an ever-present awareness of how to most effectively combine their various musical components to conjure the most sinister and compelling atmosphere possible.
Rating breakdown
Performance: | 9 |
Songwriting: | 9 |
Originality: | 8 |
Production: | 9 |
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