This entry represents more jiggery-pokery with the form and function of black metal. Schammasch hail from Switzerland and are anonymously shrouded in beautifully adorned ceremonial robes. They have already made for themselves quite an impression carving out atmospheric and distinctly avant-garde soundscapes.

“The Maldoror Chants: Old Ocean” is their first studio album in five years. While it doesn’t see any major shifts from their musical template, their ability to be innovative and inventive seems to have developed greatly. This record is full of instruments usually shunned by metal’s conservative fraternities. There are accordions and full-on classical orchestration aplenty. There are also distinctly creepy industrial soundscapes and sultry spoken word interludes.

Its brilliance is in the way that it marries the off-putting with the melodic. It is a distinctly musically accessible album, but it works hard to simultaneously challenge with that accessibility. It continually morphs and shape-shifts as it bounces through its sprawling four tracks. There is a pulsating monolithic rhythm at the heart of it, which becomes the album’s integral heartbeat. Strange but also fantastic.

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