Emerging from the abyss with zero concern for refinement or trend, Sarkom’s 2004 demo is a cold-blooded declaration of intent. This is grim Black Metal in its most hostile form, stripped to bone, driven by malice rather than musicianship, and soaked in pure contempt for modern excess.
The production is intentionally filthy: guitars rasp like corroded blades dragged across stone, the drums batter with primitive insistence, and the bass lurks as a distant rumble rather than a defined presence. Vocals are spat in rabid, venomous bursts, less a performance, more a manifestation of spite. Nothing here seeks clarity; the suffocating murk is the message.
Song structures reject grandiosity, opting instead for direct, punishing assaults rooted in early Norwegian nihilism and underground hatred. There’s a constant sense of claustrophobia, as if the demo was recorded in a sealed crypt with no air left to breathe. Riffs repeat like ritual incantations, hammering the same wound until it festers.
What makes this demo resonate is its sincerity. Sarkom sound utterly devoted to the ugliest, most confrontational aspects of Black Metal, no atmosphere for comfort, no melody for escape. This is music meant to repel, not invite. A grim artifact from the underground, where Black Metal still bled in its rawest, most antagonistic form. The torchbearer of True Norwegian Black Metal!
