While the musical transition from a more or less standard Swedish Death Metal in the band’s embryonical stages to the more Black Metal-infused sound after Sarcasm’s 2015 reunion has taken a few albums to fully crystalize, it felt that with 2022’s ‘Stellar Stream Obscured’ that quest was complete. That album struck a good midpoint of elements from both Black and Death Metal. But, with the release of ‘Mourninghoul’, it seems that the band’s shapeshifting process isn’t over yet.
This newest instalment feels closely related to ‘Stellar Stream Obscured’, even more so than all the other individual albums, but at the same time it takes another few leaps into becoming a full-on Black Metal band. But, at least for now, it has not transformed into a traditional Black Metal band yet. Especially in certain riffing, listen to opening riffs in ‘Awareness In The Dark’ for instance, the band’s Death Metal roots shines through.
But if anything else is proven with ‘Mourninghoul’, it is that Sarcasm is just an Extreme Metal band that doesn’t need much labelling. That feeling is enhanced by incorporating a wider scope of musical influences. On the same ‘Awareness In The Dark’, for example, we are treated to some massive mid-period Slayer riffs and melodic Heavy Metal leads, and the preceding ‘A Lucid Dream In The Paradigm Stream’ or ‘No Solace From Above’ there is much of Doom Metal vibe going on. The closing ‘Absence Of Reality’, on the other hand, is a very pacey and melodic Death Metal song that seems to have taken its inspiration from a band like At The Gates. We are indeed dealing with a whole host of different styles that are only held together to a limited extent.
The creative kaleidoscopic character of the music is both the band’s strength and frailty, in the sense that you are definitely in for a adventurous ride, never knowing what will come after the next track or even riff, but at the same time the album lacks a bit of cohesion. The latter does diminish somewhat the more you hear the music and the more you are not surprised by what comes your way, but the feeling of “a lot of random ideas” never completely goes away. Added to this is the fact that the vocals of Heval Bozarslan, the only remaining original band member, are not exactly the strongest and distract from the essence of the music.
People who are buying the double CD version of the album are served with an extra CD full of old demo tracks that are more than worthwhile and actually show the band in its best form. Completely different for sure, but it provides an excellent contrast against the disjointed material on this new album, which is far from bad on its own, but feels a bit like a loose cannon on deck.
Sarcasm
- Country: Sweden
- Style: Black Metal, Death Metal
- Links: Homepage, Facebook, Bandcamp, Spotify, Youtube
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Hammerheart Records
- Country: Netherlands
- Style: Black Metal, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Thrash Metal, Other
- Links: Homepage, Facebook, Instagram, Bandcamp, Youtube
