Schammasch
Triangle

In the wake of the great ambitions and influences that have swept through extreme metal in the third millennium, the Swiss Schammasch, arriving in the middle of 2016 with their third attempt, present us with Triangle, an album that has all the qualifications to provoke significant priapism and nocturnal emissions among the aficionados of the most sophisticated post-black: first and foremost, it is a triple album, which already echoes a certain fetishism for trilogies that we should now be accustomed to. Moreover, needless to say, the division into chapters follows a true concept, describing with enviable vehemence maintained over a whole 100 minutes the journey the spirit undertakes from the moment of death to transcend the flesh and reach a higher state of consciousness. In short, no small feat, right?

It would also be needless to specify that the fundamental idea, very suggestive and even more courageous, is destined to reflect itself in a musical transformation consistent with the (so to speak) narrative framework: taking inspiration from maestro Vindsval/Blut Aus Nord (but not only!) and his 777 saga, the musical material follows a progressive disembodiment and thus arrives on shores that have nothing metallic anymore. Therefore, it is wise not to be deceived by the first disc (The Process of Dying), which indeed represents one of the best examples of post-black in this flourishing 2016 but in the context of the album, it is also the most academic. The references to the chaotic French scene are all evident, the foundation is clear but overall well reworked; the textures, at times nervous and dissonant, at times furious and relentless, still leave room for some bursts of suspended calm, while the voice growls and declaims its sermons mercilessly (Nergal often comes to mind), allowing itself, however, a few unexpected ritualistic choruses. The production is excellent, modern, with well-boosted and clean sounds (perhaps too much?), and this impressive quartet certainly does not lack technique.

The task of ferrying the original material, rightfully codifiable, towards something else falls to the second chapter, Metaflesh: you can feel the sludge haze in The World Destroyed by Water, with its martial and peremptory pace; Satori, one of the peaks of the work, hypnotizes, enchants, and unsettles with a sumptuous tail of quasi-Gregorian chants; Metanoia, despite its frantic opening, winks at gothic metal and draws new musical horizons in Schammasch’s vision. Above the Stars of God, among other things, surprises with those Gilmour-like solos, only to then hurl us again into an abyss of hieratic screams and sulfurous riffs, though by now it is clear that the landscape is significantly different from the beginning. The Conclusion of Metaflesh, melodic and free of distortions, almost seems out of place, but it is merely a prelude of what's to come in the third disc.

The Supernal Clear Light of the Void is the total and (at this point) predictable departure from extreme sounds. However, the ambient rarefaction does not dampen even slightly the emotional tones of Triangle, which in fact seem to gain in gravity and weightiness, in addition to being far more evocative: whirls of drones, gongs, tribal percussion, didgeridoo, saxophone, oriental-like chants, spectral minimalism stasis, scattered arpeggios, imaginative void: strange to say, the results live up to the intentions, and Schammasch prove to be excellent "Charons" on this last psychedelic journey beyond the flesh. There’s no point in making particular mentions; the third disc, more than the others, deserves to be listened to as if it were a single track, completely surrendering to the flow of sounds, silences, beats, and breaths.

With Triangle, Schammasch add another jewel to the varied mosaic of modern black metal, now light years away from traditions and increasingly devoted to research, both sonic and conceptual. There remains the suspicion that the project as a whole is somewhat excessive in ambition - hopefully, it won't overflow irreparably into a hypothetical quadruple album in the future. To get an idea of the employed tones, just reading the lyrics would be enough: certainly heartfelt and impactful, as well as of a certain depth, although amidst Hinduism, biblical citations, and Latin and Sanskrit declamations a pompous pastiche sometimes emerges, which sometimes exalts, sometimes perplexes. These guys take themselves very seriously, but they have good reason to: it is no easy task to compress so many ideas into three simultaneously published discs without falling into prolixity and/or inconsistency, and if the results are of this level, we can turn a blind eye. Among the best releases of 2016, without a doubt.