in case this passed you by: Schammasch (Switzerland): Contradiction (Prosthetic Records)

Schammasch (Switzerland): Contradiction (Prosthetic Records)

A high-density monolith by an ambitious cast—sums up the album “Contradiction” by Schammasch, a group characterized by a grand-narrative approach to aesthetics. The vision found on the recording returns time and again to the execution: maximize the band’s strengths. The question then becomes: what are the band’s strongest points? Schammasch rejects the hobby mentality of a group getting together, having some drinks, and jamming out some tunes just for fun and giggles, to have something to do when they are bored on the weekends.

Epic greatness is their objective. If forced to reduce the sound to a sentence: Schammasch is midtempo, chugging, “cold,” post-black metal with slow passages and some bursts of speed here and there. I have listened to the album many times and it is a time-consuming two-part project. Part 1 is five songs, for a total time of 38 minutes; part 2 is four songs, for a total time of 46 minutes. Undoubtedly, they want to create music that stands above normal, by-the-numbers metal. Therefore, look into this album if chugging, cold, semi-industrial-like, groove-oriented “black metal” appeals to you, or if you tend to investigate bands that make long albums that require attentive listeners and much time.

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