Paul Schwarz
Somfar I have no love for this album. But a minute in. Now, in other words. I'm digging it more. Very 'industrial' and 'mechanized' - scrapings on low and hi freq bands!
Favorite track: Kid on the Left.
Maltash is a Lebanese musician currently based in Brussels, Belgium. Stuck between constant love and detachment from the world, his music comes out as a harsh yet emotionally twisted reaction to modern day society. His connection to a relentless country like Lebanon has influenced him in every sense, as he cries and screams to interlaced riffing and weeping guitars, oozing from an industrial backdrop.
The project first started from a need to uphold purity of expression in music, far away from any agenda or expectation, guided only by the principle of “Break Every Boundary, Empower the Disheartened”. This inevitably results in a synthesis of genres from across the dark and dystopian spectrum, which promises to constantly evolve.
Recorded at a time when it felt like the world was about to witness an apocalypse. Obviously not a literal one, but it felt like something was about to change drastically, and the dismay on a societal level was not helping. Sabotage Yourself is thus a natural expression of dissatisfaction with the current way of the world and the egocentric nature of our current society… a natural pitch-black reaction to our surroundings.
This manifests itself in a dystopian sound resulting from a feeling of urgency, an anti-genre/anti-agenda approach influenced by industrial, doom and punk, with lyrical themes covering violence, injustice, distance, vulnerability, and empathy, wrapped in a veil of nihilism.
You are an egg which threw itself onto a wall and splattered.
You taped yourself to it, clinging to it, trying to reconstruct yourself through it, addicted to the rejection.
You become at peace with this, you have lost a part of yourself but have gained a worthless belonging.
Sabotage Yourself
Edition of 100 cassettes housed in a diecut cardstock case
supported by 6 fans who also own “Sabotage Yourself”
"things get significantly jazzier than on Antediluvian without sacrificing any of the shattering drone doom heaviness. But with many contributions from one of his partners in Mansur, Dmitry el Demerdashi on oud and jack of all saxophone trades Colin Webster, these Meditations sound less like a global sound collage than its predecessor, and more like a coherent band."
my full review:
https://derohlsen.blogspot.com/2022/11/cassette-craze-chronicles-xxii-feat.html Der Ohlsen
supported by 5 fans who also own “Sabotage Yourself”
Such a unique, crushing and yes, catchy record. Having seen them live recently can also attest to the band’s incredible tightness and massive tones. Love this record and this band. rube