Artist: Sacramentum
Title: Far Away From The Sun
Genre: Blackened Death Metal
Release Date: 25th January 2013
Label: Century Media Records
Album Review
SACRAMENTUM has been a Swedish band, providing a unique mixture of Black and Death Metal. During 1992-1999, they released one demo as well as three full-length records. Their debut, ‘Far Away From The Sun’ (1995) will be re-released in 2013, with changes in sound by Dan Swanö. ‘Fog’s Kiss’ is an energetic opener and clearly defines SACRAMENTUM’s trademarks – harsh vocals, melodic and fast guitar riffs, variable song structures and brutal drums. The song directly veers into the following title track ‘Far Away From The Sun’, which continues even more powerful. In general, their style is strongly influenced by the Scandinavian and in particular the Swedish Black Metal scene, yet, their music sounds distinct and remarkable. ‘Blood Shall Be Spilled’ is probably the most direct and accessible track – the chorus line is almost catchy and the tempo is very straight-forward, including a certain groove.
With ‘When Night Surrounds Me’, the speed slows down a bit – the overall atmosphere of ‘Far Away From The Sun’ is very dark, moody, cold and majestic. ‘Cries From A Restless Soul’ is a faster track, with interesting twists and turns in rhythm as well as harmony. Another outstanding, brutal track is ‘Obsolete Tears’, which consists of dynamic, contrastive and counter-moving riffs. ‘Beyond All Horizons’ starts off rather calm and then continues in an almost progressive manner – halfway during the song, influences from Death/Thrash Metal are included in a very rough riff. Yet, this song offers the most variability on ‘Far Away From The Sun’ without appearing disruptive. ‘The Vision And The Voice’ offers a harsher tone, whereas ‘Darkness Falls For Me’ concludes the album with an atmospheric, instrumental outro. In general, ‘Far Away From The Sun’ is an outstanding album with lots of variety and quality.
The sound of the re-issue may be seen as too clean and more roughness would suit the style well, but this is definitely a matter of taste. Apart from this minor critique, the re-issue is definitely a must-buy for fans of Dissection and good Black Metal in general.
Tracklist
01. Fog’s Kiss
02. Far Away From The Sun
03. Blood Shall Be Spilled
04. When Night Surrounds Me
05. Cries From A Restless Soul
06. Obsolete Tears
07. Beyond All Horizons
08. The Vision And The Voice
09. Darkness Falls For Me
Line-up
Anders Brolycke – Guitars
Nisse Karlén – Vocals, Bass
Nicklas Rudolffson – Drums
Website
www.facebook.com/sacramentum.death.metal
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 9
Sound: 8
Extras: -
Total: 8.5 / 10
Comments powered by CComment