35. Schammasch – “Hearts of No Light”

I promised you records that are pushing forward the boundaries of what is possible with Black Metal and this is certainly one of them. “Hearts of Lights” never turns out like you expect. This is not straight forward heavy and nasty Black Metal. It twists and turns, full of numerous abrupt changes in style and pace. There is so many textured layers at play here. Harsh guitar rubs up against melodic keys, each vying for your attention. It seems determined not to stick to a formula and therefore each track spirals off in a unique direction. The vocals are both stunning and haunting. Again, the traditional usual path is abandoned, instead we get a spoken word approach that turns conventions on its head. There is Goth, Avant-garde and lot of other influences here. This is not just pushing the envelope, but just ripping the whole thing apart. Astoundingly good!