Sargeist Review!

Sargeist
Genre: Black Metal
Label: Moribund records

Black Metal is a genre of contradictions. It generally contains a reverence for the past and nature while its artists use modern technology to produce their albums. Groups often have a  lyrical focus on depression and the bleakness of the human condition while using art, probably the most life affirming action humans are capable of, to promote their ideologies. Sargeist is a band that embraces these contradictions without a hint of irony, putting forth their music with cast-iron grimness. Perhaps due to this lack of tongue-in-cheek-ness that many black metal bands posses, Sargeist is able to create some intense and truly evil sounding Black Metal.

Sargeist is a band from Finland. Originally a side project by Shatruag of Finnish Black Metal band Horna, Sargeist became a full band in 2000, releasing the demo Heralding the Breath of Pestilence. Satanic Black Devotion is their first full length album, released in 2003. It is very much indebted to the second wave of Black Metal, particularly Darkthrone and Mayhem. It contains the classic tropes of this style of music: raw production, buzzsaw guitars, satanic lyrics, and screeching, tortured vocals. The vocals are an aspect of this band that I take an issue with. They are wildly inconsistent. One track can be cold, tortured, and haunting while the next track can sound strained and quite humorous. The guitars are tinny and tremolo picked, creating an air of mystery and terror. The drums are, as typical of the genre, are constant blastbeats.

Overall the album is exactly what it wants to be, raw, old-school black  metal with absolutely no pretension.I think this idea of sticking to the past will draw in a lot of metalheads looking for a respite from the constant onslaught of nature-focused, atmospheric black metal releases. For me, this album is just a little bit pedestrian. It doesn't bring a lot of new ideas to the table, but it is solid for what it is. If you like your forests grim, your lyrics blasphemic, and your band members painted, give this album a listen.