Sumac - Love In Shadow Review

Well after 10 months, we are back. But what lack of content was produced in this previous time has been made up for in an abundance of music listening. And for the following reviews, the majority of them will be of albums this year which came out much earlier, as I have quite a few albums I would like to talk about, and hopefully will get done. I am very glad to be starting this resurgence with one of my personal most anticipated albums of the year, Sumac's Love In Shadow. 

The supergroup of Baptists' Nick Yacyshyn, Russian Circles' Brian Cook and ex-Isis and Old Man Gloom's Aaron Turner captivated me two years ago with their sophomore album, What One Becomes. This was my first experience with this band, and in fact with the might of Aaron Turner in general, but I was blown away. What One Becomes is a masterwork in post-metal, as its use of wretched tones and disturbing melodies creates a soul-shattering experience that I still love to re-listen to today. When earlier this year Sumac released a collaboration with experimental artist Keiji Haino, entitled American Dollar Bill - Keep Facing Sideways, You Are Too Hideous To Look At Face On, I did not really know what to expect. I had not heard the working of Keiji, and when I was listening to this album, I was open to the craziness that ensued on that project. However after listening to it multiple times, that album never really stuck with me, and although hearing Keiji shriek "America!" in the last track is still one of my favorite lines of music history, overall I was underwhelmed. It felt like a rehashing of What One Becomes, but with less intensity and more flute passages. 

A few months later when Attis' Blade, the second track on Love In Shadow, was released, I was yet again smitten. I will return to this song later. Before we talk about that track, we need to talk about the monster that appears before it on the album; The Task. A monolith of a track standing at over twenty one minutes in length, the bleak and unrelenting sound of this track sets up the entirety of the album perfectly. With no hesitation, Yacyshyn's drums pummel straight from the beginning of the song, which build to where the guitar and bass soon join to provide a skull-crushing riff. Turner's vocal are harsh and gritty, allowing the track to be shaky and uneasy, which turns into the listener sharing those aspects. After about a 6 minute passage of this nonstop fury only broken up by a small clean guitar passage halfway through, the track completely devolves, the drums become spastic and the guitars begin to falter as the track slows into a silence, much like a battle ceasing to a halt. A dissonant guitar emerges from the rubble and keeps us on edge as we wait in awe to see what occurs next. Shortly, the drums and bass reappear and a new haunting melody ensues, heavier than before, and much slower as well. If I were more of an aspect, I would say that I could definitely attribute to it sounding like funeral doom. With the vocals returning, Turner's deep howls only add to the haunting of the instrumentation. The track then stops again to highlight a quiet tremolo, while drums create a new rhythm, which is the shortly added onto with a palm muted riff. This creates a nice breather in the track, and with another round of absolutely disgusting vocals is all the same off-putting as it is hypnotizing. The riff then changes to a more melodic, rather than rhythmic, sound for quite a while, and at this point in the track, we have 3 minutes left. An organ enters the mix, creating a very depressing atmosphere, complemented by vocals preaching of being ripped away in fear of love. This concludes this track, and what a track it has been. This is easily my favorite track on the album, for the many reasons stated above.

The three following tracks all placed between twelve and seventeen minutes, share most of the absurdly pummeling and intense moments of The Task. Attis' Blade is not an easy track to listen to. The opening three minutes comprise of a dissonant 6/8 riff, leaving the listener puzzled as much as they feel a constant weight on their shoulders. And this is something to highlight in Sumac's music. While not everything they produce is inherently "heavy", the sounds and melodies, as well as the particular use of static on this album, and even more specifically on Attis' Blade, create an absolutely uncomfortable space to experience. This compliments the "clean" guitar sections well as their contrast create a truly beautiful building point. Attis' Blade jumps around from harsh to clean to harsh again, all while building to an epic climax, which most Sumac songs tend to do. This makes the long songs that they produce ever so enjoyable time and time again. Attis' Blade reprises its melodies and rhythms to create a truly immersive experience. Arcing Silver begins with an eerie monotone bass riff, complimented by some nice drum play and is followed soon by a very unpleasing guitar melody. Soon interrupted by dissonant tremolo, which exits as abruptly as it began. Turner returns with deep growls of ferocity as the bass and drums continue to drone their repeated rhythm in the background. The guitars return, as the song begins to accelerate, and the song erupts into a classic Sumac riff with a weighty foreground and solo clean guitar sections to break it up. This then crumbles and returns to the unrelenting and heavy riffs. This song is "classic Sumac" as one could say in their short but sweet lifetime. The final song, Ecstasy of Unbecoming, begins with a very atmospheric intro, with what sounds like distant tribal drums and a solo guitar melody. This is definitely a trend that this band loves to use, and rightfully so, as it works very well to set up for the rest of their songs. This is interrupted by fuzzy guitars and crackling static. This goes on for a while before perhaps one of the best riffs on this album comes into the fold. While retaining a similar Sumac sound, it feels a bit livelier and creates an amazing final track to this brilliant album. 

Without analyzing every single aspect of this album, this is hands-down one of the best releases of this year. It's complex, simple, catchy and off-putting all at once. It is perhaps the most ambitious Sumac album yet, but also the most identifiable in terms of their sound. When I recommend Sumac to someone in the future, this is the album I will show them. While not only pushing the boundaries of what is post-metal, it also shows exactly what this band wants to show and how they want to show it. 

Score: A Symphony of Brown Notes

Best Songs: The Task, Ecstasy of Unbecoming

By: Adam Richards