{"id":14663,"date":"2013-09-20T00:00:25","date_gmt":"2013-09-20T00:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=14663"},"modified":"2013-10-16T11:39:32","modified_gmt":"2013-10-16T11:39:32","slug":"album-review-sarke-aruagint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-sarke-aruagint\/","title":{"rendered":"SARKE – Aruagint (2013) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

SARKE
Aruagint<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nIndie Recordings (2013)<\/span>
Rating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Norwegian black thrashers Sarke are best known for featuring Darkthrone<\/a> genius Nocturno Culto, and it\u2019s no surprise that when you slap on the band\u2019s third platter that it reeks of that old school metal stench. In fact, as soon as \u2018Jaunt Of The Obsessed\u2019 comes oozing into the room one can only marvel at the Hellhammer \/ Celtic Frost comparisons. Nocturno has always worn his influences on his sleeves, and the Tom G. Warrior-styled grunts and grizzled gurns give Sarke an extremely sinister and earthy sound that reverberates with doom. <\/p>\n

Sarke\u2019s new record boasts nine unhealthy tracks, beginning with the aforementioned \u2018Jaunt Of The Obsessed\u2019. The track features a cold, grey style of riffing, the sort you\u2019d expect from one of those mid to late 90s Darkthrone records, and it would be fair to say that this quintet are not too far removed from the sound of Nocturno\u2019s main job. Steinar Gundersen\u2019s guitars remain dense and well-soiled, giving off a putrid air among occasional grateful moments.<\/p>\n

This is nowhere more evident than on the stark, searching strains of \u2018Jodau Aura\u2019, a creeping, almost desperate echo of gloom that is thread by Asgeir Mickelson\u2019s stern drum sound. Again though, the guitars emerge from the misty mire like a glistening sword, providing a peculiar jarring atmosphere as the drums rattle until we return to that foetid air.<\/p>\n

\u2018Ugly\u2019 resorts back to the crust punk Darkthrone yelps as Nocturno belches, \u201cCos\u2019 I\u2019m ugly… ugly as Hell\u201d<\/em>, over an oily Mot\u00f6rhead clank which melts into Celtic Frost-styled dankness. <\/p>\n

Blackened doomy thrash is certainly \u201cin\u201d at the moment. Sarke have been getting stronger through each record, and I see this third opus as being the album that takes them to the top of the bleak mountain. It\u2019d take a foolish man to scoff at the jerking groove of \u2018Strange Pungent Odyssey\u2019, which features such a catchy hook to accompany Sarke\u2019s (aka Thomas Bergli) snarling words. It\u2019s certainly one of the best cuts on the opus, mixing a bouncing melody with a Black Sabbath<\/a>-inspired nod.<\/p>\n

\u2018Walls Of Ru\u2019 and the hypnotic \u2018Salvation\u2019 keep things at a steady level before the melancholic \u2018Skeleton Sand\u2019 and chugging fuzz of \u2018Icon Usurper\u2019 lead us to the closing judder of \u2018Rabid Hunger\u2019, which features a thudding drum and orgiastic guitar sound that twists between murky doom and wretched guffaw.<\/p>\n

Aruagint<\/em> is the arrogant, snarling and festering slab of doomy, dark metal I had hoped for, and with the bass of Sarke fluid and grimy throughout, the third album from this bunch of barbarians is one that should keep the sun at bay for quite a while.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SARKEAruagint Indie Recordings (2013)Rating: 8\/10 Norwegian black thrashers Sarke are best known for featuring Darkthrone genius Nocturno Culto, and it\u2019s no surprise that when you slap on the band\u2019s third platter that it reeks of that old school metal stench. In fact, as soon as \u2018Jaunt Of The Obsessed\u2019 comes oozing into the room one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,781],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-sarke"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14663"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14671,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14663\/revisions\/14671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}