Album Review :
Shamash - Done With Misery (Nos Pergamos in Domine Saluteum)

Shamash is one of the few (only?) Christian metal bands from Malaysia. Vocalist/guitarist Andre Chiang has a lengthy history with Christian metal going back to the late 90s with thrash/death metal band Necromanicide, and more recently as a member of the transcontinental act Vultures Gathering. Distinct from those bands, Shamash plays in a hybrid style fusing elements of metalcore, death metal, and black metal to interesting and effective results.

“Not by My Heart” opens the album with a mix of metalcore and melodic death metal with some blackened vocals on the verses. As soon as you feel you have the style pegged, here come the clean, melodic vocals on the chorus. The song speaks to the futility of trying to live life in our own strength or power.

The title track is up next, featuring a more straight-forward approach than track 1 with a thrashy crunch and distorted death metal vocals. But again, we have some clean vocals and clean guitars on the chorus. This is a catchy melody for sure. The song speaks to the release one finds when finally surrendering to God:

You’re throwing all your life away,
There’s gotta be another way.
By His blood you can be found,
By His blood you can be.

“The Missionary” is a full-on blackened death tune that gives thanks for missionaries:

The Missionary tried and true, shining bright for the world to see,
Plunder darkness, empty hell, eternal life, the eternal goal,
The Missionary tried and true, innovating something new,
Plunder darkness, empty hell, eternal life, the eternal goal,
The Missionary he has come, to shine in the darkness with the truth,
Plunder darkness, empty hell, eternal life, the eternal goal.

Man is this a brutal track! I can’t help but wonder if members were inspired by Jerusalem’s 1988 song “Plunder Hell, Populate Heaven” in the lyrics.

“Take Me As I Am” is a thrash tune, but has some cool tribal drumming on the intro as well as the bridge, and more of the melodic vocals on the chorus. Then “Father of Lies” (appropriately titled) follows up with probably the most black metal-sounding tune so far, with lyrics that draw a line with our spiritual enemy:

I am sick of your disgusting lies, forget all you are inside,
Claiming the weak and the frail, you will never get close to me,
I’ll watch you burn up in flames, I’ve had enough with all your games, I don’t need this now, (I don’t) I don’t need you now,
Let this be your demise

There’s a high-pitched trebly intro, but it’s also infiltrated with some chugga-chugga style riffing (briefly) that sounds borrowed from metalcore, and then some almost industrial metal vocals on the chorus. This is definitely a hybrid metal release! In fact, as soon as you think you’ve got them pegged to one song, they change it up again and you find you were wrong.

“In Memoriam” is a tribute to a loved one who has died, offering them to the Lord and giving thanks for the time they had together. The song is more melodic, and a little slower than the others so far, but it’s still not a ballad. It’s just that the structure of the song facilitates the meaning behind the lyrics. Following this is “Interlude,” a shorter instrumental piece that serves as an, uh . . . interlude.

The alternate titled track, that is “Nos Pergamos in Domine Saluteum” is more or less a power metal tune, except that it has some harsh vocals on the verses. Heavy yet melodic guitars drive the tune at a mid-tempo pace. The song is a praise to Christ and the glories of salvation, and feature at least 4 different languages in the lyrics!

“The War for Jerusalem” bravely tackles the historical issue of fighting between Jews and Muslims, tracing the issue through the Old Testament and making implications for contemporary times. The tune offers some middle eastern drums and melodies in the music as well, lending itself to the theme. The song is even more brave considering the band’s homeland, where Islam is the predominant religion. It functions essentially as a prayer for peace:

We plead for an end, where innocents are spared,
We’ll trade in our weapons, our swords into plowshares,
We’ll trade in our weapons, our spears in pruning hooks,
At mount Zion, we’ll worship together…

“The Return of Al-Masih” closes the album (well, sort of—we’ll come back to that in a minute) with worshipful song that anticipates the Second Coming. Once again, some middle eastern sounds are employed to help drive home the message. If you’ve been looking for some intense metal that you can worship to, look no further than Done With Misery, as it will certainly fit the bill.

The CD version of the album comes with bonus track not available on the digital version. As the first few seconds of the song begin to play, I’m thinking, “Wait a second, I recognize that chord progression!” And though they’ve changed it significantly, it is clearly the intro to “The Majestic Infiltration of Order” by Mortification (ironically, a song whose title is longer than the actual song lyrics). Their version of the track keeps the same tempo and structure of the song, but adds layers of melody and texture into, plus tweaking the actual chords used in the song, thus making it truly their own.

The bottom line: this album will challenge listeners looking to put the band into a nice, neat genre box, because it simply can’t be done. The songwriting and musicianship are very high-quality, and it’s great to have another truly worshipful extreme metal album to add to the arsenal.

Ordering link here: https://shamashrr.bandcamp.com/album/done-with-misery-nos-pergamos-in-domine-saluteum