Holy Hermit Humming - Chants

Released: March 6

Released on a new sub-label of Gates of Hypnos, Chants a unique blend of harsh noise wall and the wonderfully intricate chants of the Orthodox Church. Running at approximately one hour, the variation in both of the two nearly half-hour tracks is rather minimal but the loops are both soothing and hypnotic enough that it induces a bit of a trance. It may sound odd, but this is possibly the most relaxing that a harsh noise wall album can ever be. 

Each track features chants in two different languages and the noise that accompanies these different chants changes to complement the original performance quite well. The first track features a gentle looping chant in Syriac, seemingly performed by a predominately male choir. The noise wall that accompanies it is deep and growling with a particular thickness to its sound, providing a rather fitting undertone for the choir while still hitting the higher frequencies of noise and changing ever so subtly as the track continues its extended runtime. The next track gives us a predominately female-sounding choir in the Serbian language as the noise surrounding seems a bit thinner and in the higher frequencies. However, there are again subtle changes occurring that seem to emphasize some of the deeper voices present. It all makes for a particularly enticing juxtaposition that had me listening in alternating bouts of intense and passive listening.