Last week I received the ‘Demo 2004’ demo CD from Norwegian Black Metal band Sarkom. This underground Black Metal band impressed me so much that I just had to do an interview with them. Renton, handling bass and drums within Sarkom, was responsible for the answers. Read on and find out a little bit more about one of the best newcomers within the scene.
Hails, how are you guys doing?
Hi. I’m OK.
Can you start by telling the complete history of Sarkom as most of our readers don’t know you yet?
Sarkom was founded late 2002 by Unsgaard and me. We wanted to create a darker kind of music than you normally hear, and we ended up with this. Sagstad was recruited to play the guitar lines on the demo, because of his much better skills there than us.
Just recently the ‘Demo 2004’ was released. What can you tell about this demo? How many copies have been made etc?
Everything is done by ourselves, so the production on the demo is a bit poor. It was recorded in a home studio, and as you can hear, the sound quality could have been better. 250 hand-numbered copies were made, and they’re all sold out.
And how are the reactions from both press and music fans towards that demo? And did you already get some offers from labels to release an album?
So far the press have given us good feedback, and the same goes for people who are into this kind of music. We haven’t been in contact with any labels yet.
What can you tell about the lyrics and can you give a short explanation of all songs on the demo?
Unsgaard has written all the lyrics and I have read all of them, but I won’t go further into that, that’s his business.
What is the main inspiration for Sarkom both musically and lyrically?
Obscure music in general is the main inspiration musically, I guess. Lyrically I don’t know.
Is Sarkom a live band and if yes, how many gigs have you done already and how were the reactions from the audience?
No, not yet anyway.
My opinion is that Sarkom is a high quality band and you’re from the Oslo area so I guess a place at the Inferno 2005 line-up will be possible right?
That could have been interesting, yes.
The Norwegian underground Black Metal scene is getting stronger and stronger again with bands like Koldbrann, Ljå, Jernbyrde and Faustcoven to mention just a few and Sarkom can be mentioned along them as well. How do you look upon the scene nowadays?
I can’t say I’m impressed by all of them. There are a few, as you mentioned, good bands, but also many shitty ones. In general I won’t say that we have a strong underground scene anymore.
Does any of you have any side-projects going on or is Sarkom the one and only band for you guys?
Both Sagstad and I are involved in a band called Pantheon I.
Why did you choose the name Sarkom, what does it mean?
Kvitrim from the Black Metal band Grenjar proposed it for us, and we thought that it was a suitable name for our band. Sarkom is a cancer tumour originating from muscle tissue.
Is there already some new material written and what else can we expect in the near future from Sarkom?
New songs have been written, and during autumn I think we will have enough material for a full-length album. The new material will be in the same category as the songs from our demo, but this time we have spent more time making the guitar riffs. I hope this will increase the quality of our music.
Thanks a lot for this interview even though it was a short one. Anything else worth mentioning that isn’t talked about yet? If not the last words are yours!
If anyone finds this interesting, you can check out our homepage and download three songs from our demo. Any questions can be sent to sarkom@epost.no
