SCHOLOMANCE - A TREATISE ON LOVE - 1998

SCHOLOMANCE pushes the envelope of dark metal and in doing so creates a distinctive sound unlike anything the scene has to offer. Progressive keyboards dominate their music furnishing everything from rhythm to melody lines to solos. And we're not talking watered down keyboard interludes, weGre talking full on solos not too dissimilar to the organ work that is the trademark of late 60's and early seventies prog rock. The guitar adds to the melodic structure of the songs and ties everything together. There are several accomplished solos from the guitar as well. Subtlety is not a word often used in connection with black metal but it is appropriate for this CD. The music is rich with nuances and textures that keep the listener intrigued throughout the album and allow for new discoveries with each subsequent spin. The vocals are, for the most part, blackened screeches and counterbalance the music. Overall this is a striking band that does marvelous things for the dark metal scene as a whole by opening new doors with their bold and innovative sound. I only wish the band had a real drummer. A jazz percussionist would push this band to yet another entirely new plateau.
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Scholomance were a band that popped up at just the wrong place and time. The late 90s American black metal scene was very sparse, and even then, the style Scholomance chose was entirely different from the dominant form of USBM at the time, the ultra-raw and dark stuff of, say, Judas Iscariot. Scholomance went in the opposite direction; instead of Darkthronian minimalism, Scholomance took the already technical nature of Emperor and added numerous prog tendencies (specifically regarding the bass and keyboards), resulting in two albums of which this is the far more accomplished. This is one of the more obscure albums that The End Records released in its nascent days, and everywhere I look nowadays it's super cheap; if you can't get enough of the mid-period Emperor sound, this is pretty good if very, very dense. If you're one of those losers who only likes In the Nightside Eclipse because you're a basement-dwelling mongoloid who thinks black metal elitism might gain you an actual in the flesh friend or two, you'll hate this.

Folks, this is some seriously technical material here. The prog tendencies should be apparent from the overly long, multi-part song titles as well as the fact that the second disc is entirley instrumental for those who hate vocal extremity, with some added piano/keyboard only songs to flesh it out a bit more. The material here is actually pretty good, it's just that as a whole the album is very overwhelming; I can only take a couple songs at a time before my brain shuts down from trying to process everything. Production is very clear, especially for this type of music which makes everything going on that much more audible.

Instrumentally these guys are fantastic. The bass has that typical prog-bass sound, clear but not very heavy, and it's always good to hear an audible bass, especially one as adventurous as on display here. The drum machine is obvious but not overtly so like so many bands out there today. It is quite clear these guys took time to program the drums and made them just as frantic as everything else. The keyboards are WAY over the top on this one, with all sorts of keyboard shredding left and right; as is the norm in keyboard shredding it's completely ridiculous and self-indulgent, but it's pretty fun for what it is. Guitars actually take somewhat of a backseat to the keyboards, bass and drum machine here, though it still has some interesting moments, such as "The Next Step (For the Sake of the Greater Whole)". And then there's the vocals.

Oh man, the vocals.

The booklet states quite explicitly how there were no vocal effects used in this recording. While I believe that's true, this guy's voice is totally off the wall. Monstrously deep bellows, high pitched shrieks, a more mid-range yet totally clear rasp, even a spoken word segment or two, he's all over the place here. The vocals take some getting used to, which is probably why they included the second disc, but once you get used to the flow he's pretty great. He manages to have such vitriol in his voice it's amazing.

So there you have it. Another obscure album from a band that never really went anywhere that turns out to be pretty solid. If you like Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk but would like to hear it with a clear production instead of the wall of sound, this is probably the closest you'll ever get in terms of technicality and skill.
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