4 years between albums can be a curse for many in the underground - but in the case of Swiss Atmospheric / Progressive Black Metal act SCHAMMASCH, it's been a thorough time of creativity. Not often do you hear an act willing to unleash a double album of 9 songs, that although seemingly short in 84 minutes actually possesses a ton of ambiance, dynamic contrasts, and progressive outlooks that make for intense, headphone excursions.

A gloomy despair often signals the start of these arrangements, as if wandering through an aural cavernous maze as the quartet layer the bass, drums, and guitars in such a stockpile way to carry that feeling through songs such as "Split My Tongue" or "Serpent Silence". C.S.R. vocally has a whispering rasp to roar delivery that has epic qualities, another aspect that can pin one's ears and cause meticulous attention to detail.

Hypnotic strains level the landscape - tribal parts rolling headfirst into speed sections, the instrumentation relentless. Within a 13:39 track like "The Inner World", the roller coaster effect of ambiance and heaviness comes into the forefront, background chanting vocals and backwards keyboard loops adding other segments to the madness and serenity juxtaposition. Influences include the Sun and the Moon, and I'm hard pressed to figure out any particular set of bands that SCHAMMASCH could consider like-minded or their peers.

If you desire something different, something unique, a double album that will take you on a journey into another universe, "Contradiction" will be your best outing for 2014.