I know we have a lot of fans of Schammasch on staff here who are anxiously awaiting the return of the Swiss eccentrics and their follow up to 2019’s Hearts of No Light.  Little did we know that not only are we getting a follow up, The Maldoror Chants: Old Ocean is a sequel to the 2017 release The Maldoror Chants: Hermaphrodite.  The whole Maldoror saga has been in the works for over a decade, and although this is just the second in a line of releases planned, Schammasch have upped the game yet again, a feat that some might call impossible given how good Hearts was.

For those not in the know, “Les Chants de Maldoror” is a mid-nineteenth century poetic novel centering on a character (who goes back and forth between narrating, being a character observed by others, and being a background piece) named Maldoror, an embodiment of evil, misanthropy and amorality.  Most of the novel is broken up into jarring, seemingly unconnected vignettes about Maldoror or some other character longing to escape the shackles of humanity by doing fucked up shit for basically no reason at all, like murdering a child by stuffing them in a sack and beating them against the side of a bridge or having actual, for real sex with an actual, for real shark (long before The Boys made it cool).  Stylistically, the work jumps around between first person and third person narrative, with the narrator (ostensibly Maldoror) taunting and mocking the reader, and leans very heavily on stream-of-consciousness, long and intentionally confusingly worded sentences, and little to no paragraph breaks.  Essentially, Les Chants used transgression and shock value to not only preach blasphemy, but to kill the traditional novel and replace it with something much more absurd.  It worked, and the inspiration Comte de Lautréamont left to the world inspired the likes of Salvador Dalí and René Magritte as well as Schammasch.  As with the novel, Old Ocean features themes of misanthropy, longing to escape, and reverence for the ocean.  Unlike the novel, Old Ocean is *infinitely* easier to digest, especially compared to 2016’s incredible but overwhelming Triangle.  Schammasch have a knack for taking a high-minded concept such as this and making it easy for people to get into.  It’s avant garde without being alienating, which I have to say I appreciate a lot.

Opener “Crystal Waves,” the longest song on the album at over thirteen minutes, makes a hell of an opening statement: ethereal, swirling chords build and reverberate under spoken word narration, ebbing and flowing into clean vocals and guitars until, finally, the climax of lumbering post-metal, bellowed growls and soaring leads takes hold and Old Ocean kicks off proper.  I don’t remember Schammasch being so melodic, and perhaps I’m merely forgetting, but Old Ocean is rife with melodies and earworm vocal and guitar hooks.  Yes, a lot of them border on the melodramatic, but what is a high-minded concept like this without a little drama added?  I’m in awe of the execution on this, and I do believe that shorter releases like this one are where Schammasch shine brightest.  There is a focus, attention to detail, and inspiration here that is very lovely to sit back and enjoy.  It’s very clear that this idea has been brewing for a while, and tracks like “They Have Found Their Master” and closer “I Hail You, Old Ocean” make a case for a lot of new tricks being in Schammasch’s bag in the years since Hearts of No Light.  There are moments on this album that truly rock, especially when the heavy-handed literary references give way to more elegant musical moments.  In those spaces, Old Ocean becomes a thing of true beauty.

Hopefully this won’t be the last part of the series we see, ever or for a while, but we kind of know that Schammasch do things at their own pace.  They arrive precisely when they mean to, but we know that when they show up, the results are going to be powerful, to say the least.  Leave it to the Swiss to bring the literary analysis to heavy metal.  I wouldn’t have it any other way.

— Ian

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The Maldoror Chants: Old Ocean will be available October 25 on Prosthetic Records.  For more information on Schammasch, visit their Facebook page.