Sanguine Relic – Within The Fog Of Fragmented Memory

‘Within The Fog Of Fragmented Memory’, Sanguine Relic’s seventh full-length album, was already released some months ago, yet so far only on cassette tape. Like many of you I too was waiting for the vinyl edition to be released, but that seems not really to be in the cards yet. So, instead we will be focussing on the cassette tape version and the more recently released digital streaming version on the label’s Bandcamp-page.

But the fact that it has so far only stuck to a cassette tape is a bit surprising, as Sanguine Relic is one of the flag bearers of today’s Raw Black Metal scene. A position the band has built not only with excellent albums, EP’s and split and split releases in its extensive discography, but also with its recently completed live shows in Europe with the equally illustrious Black Cilice by their side.

But, although the band has indeed quite an impressive back-catalogue, the band’s last full-length album dates back to 2020. In the meantime one demo, two EP’s and a split with Obsidian Grave were released, of which especially the last EP ‘Labyrinth Of Nightmares’ appealed to me. Its slightly more organic sound, as compared to many of the band’s earlier crude recordings, allowed the music to exude a stronger sense of melancholy and, not in the least place, the riffs were much easier to discern. Yet, Sanguine Relic has had a few more releases out there that sounds quite different from the pack, and for one, that is the point of doing demos or EP’s in the first place. But it always makes you wonder what the band will come up with next.

Well, with ‘Within The Fog Of Fragmented Memory’ Sanguine Relic serves you with a bit of everything. It feels like the 40-minute album was built out of all the bits and pieces that were used to craft the previous releases. If we’d need a short description of what this latest album sounds like, it can best be described as sounding significantly less organic than its preceding EP, but much less Lo-Fi than the band’s first albums. Subsequently, ‘Within The Fog Of Fragmented Memory’ blends the strong riff-oriented power with a distinctly cleaner sound, making the whole affair sound much sharper and colder. By doing so, the result might feel a bit less distinguishable in the sense that the music creeps a bit more up to “safer” territories of Raw Black Metal. It does indeed hook up with the masses riding on the standard Darkthrone/Gorgoroth-train, but Sanguine Relic’s impeccable sense for atmosphere, strong riffs and overall song writing prevents them from drowning the in the pool of transience with the rest of them.

In fact, to me ‘Within The Fog Of Fragmented Memory’ is one of the band’s strongest efforts to date. I might prefer that more humming and atmospheric sound of the aforementioned previous EP, but what we have here is basically how Sanguine Relic should sound: fierce, mean and cold. Another more than solid piece of Raw Black Metal that solidifies the band’s position in the genre’s hall of fame.