SCHAMMASCH

SCHAMMASCH    “The Maldoror Chants: Old Ocean”

By Octopi Mills

Upon the opening track "Crystal Waves" I had the old feeling that can only be compared to what a hostage might experience had he been held hostage more than once. A feeling of distrust began that would never fully disperse, and in this case, our abduction is a sea faring one. The formula is set early on; right away in this album, and never leaves the shorelines of such high adventure. 

One is more of on a tour with familiar sounds in the metal genre; but these are too vast of areas in terms of being too encumbering and boring to explain. Taking their inspirations from an old literary sense, one can hear the sort of concepts that do at least shape the music into something somewhat relevant at times. The ability to make long songs interesting is not so much a challenge as it should be. The ability to meander and get carried away into these concepts can be quite fun for the composers but it is more of a challenge to those who did not begat the brood of another. It is hard to foster, in this way, long voyages into another's sea. There are moments where the sea is captured, the air and waves in the instrumentation in good effect and the guitar work at moments do interesting things. The vocals become the navigator in it all and I had a difficult time with the journey. Perhaps this sort of thing will find it's way into the hearts and minds of the patient and diligent listeners who have followed the band’s voyages so far. Alas, my patience is not of the necessary duration for such a venture.

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SCHAMMASCH