Review by Sandre the Giant
American black metallers Sarcoptes have been around since 2008 but this is only their second full length, after 2016’s ‘Songs and Dances of Death’ and I first came upon the band on 2020’s ‘Plague Hymns’, which was a well received and fiery EP. ‘Prayers to Oblivion’ is out in February through Transcending Obscurity.
What Sarcoptes do very well, and it becomes immediately apparent, is long black metal songs that do not feel repetitive nor overdone. That is a skill when your opening track is 14 minutes long. An interconnected series of songs about historical tragedies, opener ‘The Trench’ is unsurprisingly led in my the sounds of bombs, gunfire and an unsettlingly quickening heartbeat. This is no atmopsheric black metal band where its one riff pattern that spirals off into oblivion. The precise, razorblade sharp guitar work is incredible, bringing to mind the likes of Emperor or Dissection and that looming grandeur behind it? It feels orchestral but not overblown, synth and keyboard enhancing the fury and dynamism of the guitar riffs instead of drowning them. ‘Spanish Flu’ smashes in next with a prime dose of occultish blackened thrash; breakneck riffing and screams all backed up by a haunting keyboard refrain.
The shift between energetic short thrasher and epic black metal odyssey is surprisingly difficult to notice at times, because Sarcoptes play at a blinding speed most of the time anyway, and that their music never feels long. I was amazed that I’d been listening to ‘Dead Silence’ for nine minutes at one point, such is the variety, the nuance and the sheer furious rage of it all. But when the band decide to slow it down towards the end, all of a sudden this rage morphs into an expanse of beautiful sound. ‘Tet’ pours more gasoline onto the fire and roars into life like a blazing comet of black thrash greatness before ‘Massacre at My Lai’ proves to be the pinnacle of Sarcoptes’ ability to give us a rampant fourteen minute song that never gets boring or rote. It’s the kind of music that 1983 Metallica could’ve written if somehow Sodom and Kreator had inspired them.
This is going to sound a bit like a weird comparison, but this record sounds really like early 2000s Dimmu, but if you stripped away all the peripherals and just kept the black metal bits. Or ‘Anthems’-era Emperor with less prog. The songwriting is insidiously memorable, the tones of guitar and bass are excellent and the drumming performance is massive. Add just the right amount of keyboard dashes when required and you’ve got the kind of vast, powerful black metal I’ve been waiting for. ‘Prayers to Oblivion’ is classic black metal done with modern production values and it sounds incredible.
https://www.facebook.com/SarcoptesOfficial/
https://sarcoptes.bandcamp.com/
The Killchain 