Artist: Sarcator
Title: Alkahest
Genre: Blackened Thrash Metal
Release Date: 21st October 2022
Label: Black Lion Records
Album Review
Hailing from Trollhatten in Sweden, these young chaps started out as a cover band in 2016 hammering out their own homages to METALLICA, OBITUARY and DEATH. Their name then was METAL MILITIA and consisted of drummer Jesper Rosen and Mateo Tervonen on guitar / vocal duties. In 2017 Felix Lindkvist joined and the whole direction changed from covers to original material. After releasing a few Eps, they released their self-titled first album in October 2020. The new album set for release this coming October is called ‘Alkahest’ and is a progression from their freshman album. ‘Alkahest’ is the “universal solvent used to carry out alchemy on a great scale” within the game ‘Bloodstained: Ritual Of The Night’. So, these guys like gaming then? It would seem so, not heard of it myself not being that interested in gaming. Anyway, this album has a broader pallet of influences that include the bands DISSECTION, AT THE GATES and THE CROWN, what with their Death Metal fieriness and this melds well with the blackened thrash they’ve already honed.
‘Ascend’ is CRADLE OF FILTH-like whilst ‘Perditions Hand’ goes in the other direction and meets MEGADETH. It’s alright, the musicianship is very good but I find it inspired and uninspired at the same time in the sense that I’ve heard this before, but you have to be good to play these riffs, which is inspiring. ‘DreamEater’ is next and it has a throaty “pom” in the bass along with mischievous and soaring guitars that gallop, stop, change tact, smooth the textures before rasping them again. In places it’s almost film score like with its tension and suspense. I think this my favourite track!
‘The Long Lost’ has Spanish guitars to start hypnotic atmospheres that build up epically as the track progresses and then ‘He Who Comes From The Dark’ carries this theme onwards with flourishing acoustic guitar before switching to electrical walls of sound that pan left and right through my speakers. Things start to get interesting around two minutes in with a pleasing phase of guitar riffing before the gravelly gargle of the vocal chimes in. The sinew of the guitars then soars up and away from the vocal before things sink down a notch. I like the drums. Next track ‘Devil Sun’ feels operatic in its meter.
‘Sorrows Verse’ has a feel of NWBHM about it with early METALLICA piercing through. The trad guitar sound and simply punched bass almost trip over into prog. Thoughtful absorption. And then release. ‘Alkahest’, the title track, for one moment makes me think of the opening bars of the Top Gear tune (‘Jessica’ by THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND) before it evaporates and trundles off somewhere else. There are flights of fancy, down low grooves, introspection and tremolo picked gallops that energise, the vocal being wide eyed and “clawed hand” I play air bass in unison and do that head bang you do when you don’t want to hit your head on the table! Good stuff.
What are the lyrics about? I don’t care, I’m too busy paying attention to the instrumental interplay to notice what the verbosity is all about. The peaks and troughs, highs and lows and smooth to rough textures of the instrument that create moods and emotions and landscapes and soundscapes are all that matter to me. On the whole this has been a journey of satisfied musical discovery that I’d recommend to anyone who is lover of metal, and to those who aren’t. If you are one of those people who thinks over processed Maccy D Vocoder music is the pinnacle of art then you are a Philistine.
Tracklist
01. Ascend
02. Perdition’s Hand
03. Grave Maggot Future
04. DreamEater
05. The Long Lost
06. He Who Comes From The Dark
07. Devil Sun
08. Sorrows verse
09. Alkahest
Line-up
Mateo Tervonen – Lead Guitar & Vocals
Felix Lindkvist – Bass Guitar & Backing Vocals
Emil Eriksson – Lead Guitar & backing Vocals
Jesper – Drums
Website
https://www.facebook.com/sarcatorband
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 7.5
Sound: 7.5
Total: 7.5 / 10
Comments powered by CComment