Hashshashin’s new single Bless Sequence – a shadowy miasma of prog, ambience and drone.
Partially inspired by the likes of Instrumental (adj.), The Physics House Band’s Death Sequence and several of Hashshashin’s band members previous acts (Serious Beak, Squat Club, Five Star Prison Cell), it’s little wonder Bless Sequence has elements from all manner of heavy music stitched into its fabric. Hammering sludgy riffs, polyrhythms, math influenced grinds and ambience, the single draws masterfully from multiple domains and leaves little in its wake – save for a lingering sense of suspense and wonder.
Once again recorded by Tim Carr (We Lost The Sea, SEIMS, Mere Women) and mastered by Ron Pollard (Tangled Thoughts of Leaving), Bless Sequence is a glimpse of Hashshashin’s creative process between nihsahshsaH and their last release Badakhshan, as string musician/guitarist Lachlan Dale explains.
“We were adrift after releasing nihsahshsaH.” he says. “While we weren’t sure the direction we wanted to go, we were certain we didn’t want to repeat ourselves. So we opened up to all sorts of experimentation, trialling different ways of writing songs, using different instruments – we even tried being a semi-acoustic band for a while.”
“As part of that process, we wrote a handful of heavy, guitar-based songs that vaguely harked back to our younger days. While we discarded most of them, we took Bless Sequence to the studio with the intention of it fitting on Badakhshan. During mixing it was clear that it didn’t really fit the mood of the other tracks. It seemed a little less serious, and a little more fun.”
“I always wanted to release it, and so here we are.”
Bless Sequence captures many of the band’s hallmark elements in both grace and fury. Sweeping riffs, hammering drums and intersecting bass all meet together in towering crescendos and skittering ambience alike. Brooding, heady and deep, Bless Sequence leaves the listener lost in the dark – shrouded in mystery.
Although the single exists as a standalone release, the distant future holds more new music coming from the Hashshashin camp as the band have taken to writing again. Little has been hinted, save for a more acoustic focus centralised around the Afghan rubab and a release date of 2022. Be prepared.
Hashshashin’s new single Bless Sequence is out now on all platforms.
