Style: Atmospheric black/death metal, ambient
Primary Emotions/Themes: A brooding chronicle
Thoughts: The Maldoror Chants is a series of albums from Schammasch that embodies slow builds and exceedingly dark atmospheres. Hermaphrodite is the first in this series and is comprised of one song for the entire album.
Atmosphere is a hugely important component to music for me. If an album is able to have a phenomenal atmosphere I'm able to overlook a lot of other things that may be wrong with the album. When that atmosphere is paired with excellent song writing... well you get the makings of an outstanding album.
The atmosphere and songwriting that Sschammasch show on this album is one of the strongest that I have in my collection. It's slow brood is unlike anything else that they have ever written, and it leads the listener down a path of desolation and despair. It establishes the basis of the album early on and slowly builds upon it throughout the half an hour run time.
The build continues and doesn't truly release until about 25 minutes in when the band finally goes full blast and release the tension that has been building. It's incredible and I wish more bands would explore this style of song writing. As the album ends a chant is given as the album winds down... a perfect ending for a near perfect album.
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