ALBUM REVIEW: Hearts Of No Light – Schammasch

Birthed in 2009 in Switzerland SCHAMMASCH started as a four piece and have now expanded to a five piece to present their fourth black metal offering Hearts Of No Light the last being the acclaimed triple album Triangle released back in 2016.

Refusing to be restricted to the blackened genre, SCHAMMASCH are artistically experimental, crafting vast darkened and epic soundscapes with lots of creative and varied nuances strewn throughout most notable from collaborations with other artists such as Pianist Lillian Lu who opens the album with a beautiful, dramatic and mournful classical composition in Winds That Pierce The Silence. Following on from this intro menacing black metallic toned notes ring out and foreboding layered synths march through the darkness which is pierced by occasional heavy metal guitar solos with primitive style drumming in the background. The vocals which are demonically deep and threatening don’t kick in until another instrumental build up in Ego Sum Omega which continues in the same slightly piercing fashion. With intricate layers of pummelling toms peppered with cymbal splashes at mid to fast pace closing with Viking tinged tones.

The dynamic piano continues ominously in A Bridge Ablaze with a much more eerie atmosphere and is accompanied by a subtle dialogue which transitions into monk like chanting. An almost retro-wave creepy sci-fi beat plays in the background whereas Qadmon’s Heir heavily contrasts the eerie quietness. Bursting forth and descending into the raging inferno with intense and energetic shuddering tremolos and pummelling drums offset by more layers of occasional blast beats and a short period of heavy GOJIRA-like vocals which crescendo and diminish to sinister ritualistic chanting.

The vocals are powerful and commanding in Rays Like Razors with a triumphant sounding background of thunderous toms, intensely crashing cymbals and intricately layered tremolo driven guitars. More ceremonious chanting lurks behind fast paced repetitive strumming and rumbling drums.

I Burn Within You starts of fairly fast paced with vocals that are more Swedish death metal than blackened. The frantic guitars have a minor tone and it’s not long before the blackened vibes creep in, punctured by strange dialogue and discordant piano and building up to an epic tapestry of more commanding Viking like chanting, thunderous drumming and layered dissonant shredding guitars.

A Paradigm Of Beauty starts off innocently enough following on the darkened theme with a smouldering slow development of clanging guitar tones, but it is what it develops into that provokes a real what the fuck moment and a double take as the music takes on a transformation into cheesy clean singing with eighties style guitar, an uncanny and for some, possibly unfortunate resemblance to GHOST. Some critics will enjoy the catchy earworm like lyrics some will scoff but admittedly, after several listens the whole way through, it’s possible to become used to this “sore thumb” of a track and appreciate it as yet another experiment from the no fucks given artistic attitude SCHAMMASCH exude.

Slowing down the pace is the penultimate track Katabasis which holds the rhetoric of the feeling of sinking down to the underworld and once it properly kicks in and the pace speeds up from the slow crushing build up to fast paced tremolo driven riffs, blast beats and ferocious growling it really lives up to its name.

The final track Innermost, Lowermost Abyss is a more subtle saga than epic journey, coming in at just over fifteen minutes in length.  It is a slow-paced cinematic experience with an ambient atmosphere. Completely Juxtaposed against the heavily crushing preceding tracks, after the adventure through infernal planes comes the calming relaxing spiritual realm but the blackened core is still definitely there, peeping out through the quiet but discordant spine-chilling moments and coming to a slight climactic conclusion. This doesn’t feel like the correct ending to an album and the ending is so abrupt, there is no build up to a magnificent finale but the amount of layered nuanced sounds is impressive from primitive, rudimentary drumming to creepy synths then Celtic and Spanish twangy and complex guitar. Very much in the vein of artistic merit and going against the grain as SCHAMMASCH are wanton to do.

Hearts Of No Light is not as hypnotic an atmosphere as Triangle due to the vast experimental variety but still, this album is cacophonous, dynamic, well-crafted and thought out. Mostly killer and definitely no filler, this is a pretty epic artistic masterpiece and successful follow up but not quite as magnificent as Triangle.

Rating: 8/10

Hearts of No Light is out now via Prosthetic Records.

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