Hamartia

On first listen, I thought that Hamartia had all the rise and fall of the Greek dramas that its title and striking cover art call to mind, but on paying more focused attention I found that my initial impression of smooth storytelling and full-on philosophy was not absolutely accurate. Featuring elements of both black and death metal, this German duo fill up the sonic spectrum for the vast majority of 40 minutes, that despite adding only 5 full songs to this debut album. I have no quibble with the intensity and density of the release, but I would like to question why the songs needed to be so long. Often, it wouldn’t bother me, except that these cuts are repetitive and not “hypnotic blastbeats” kind of repetitive but of the “getting physically smacked” sort, so the long sections of unchanging riffing and frequently heavy-duty percussion leave little room for nuance or differentiation. In this regard, what I find interesting is that Tausendstern restrain the pace for long periods, almost conjuring doomy atmospheres when those shuffling blastbeat sections lapse into ringing chords, arpeggios, and muddy low vocals.

Anyone who knows my listening habits will pick out why Hamartia wrestles with my instincts, since I’m all about detail and atmosphere in my extreme metal tastes. After the gentle introduction, the album lacks variety in sonic and technical terms, massively problematizing cuts like ‘Vater’ that hold a line for 7 minutes or more. Sure, we do break into groovier passages from time to time, yet the slightly noisy nature of the rhythms coupled with a bit of unwanted creativity means that the songs don’t settle and then attack, instead remaining on the edge of the listener’s attention all the time. The last song finally reaches a point of difference as intriguing clean vocals emerge in the midst of the first swells of riffing after a downbeat introduction, sounding rather like the laments of lost Vikings on their last voyage. That’s how I know that Tausendstern weren’t entirely sure how the album should be structured, seeing as their band-titled number indeed ends their debut with some impact, unfortunately at the cost of the middle part of the listen.

I wouldn’t like to let it seem that Hamartia misses by a large margin, however. After nosing your way into the destructive levels of the production, the duo conceal a number of potent riffs just below the waterline, which would work better for me with greater pitch separation (guitar, drums, and vocals all occupy a similar pitch range) but these riffs I nonetheless can’t ignore. Besides, although I’m not an endorser of all the overwhelming drum passages, there’s no doubt Sumarbrander can handle the kit well, even if he’s perhaps reluctant to add any smoothness to his armoury. Tausendstern have turned in the kind of debut that leaves a lot of hope for the future.