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Band: Sarcophagic
Album title: Birth Of The Betrayer
Release date: 13 December 2014
Label: Xperiment XIII
Tracklist:
01. Prologue - Operator
02. Satan und Gott
03. First Cut - Skrik Pt I
04. Hammer
05. My Factory
07. Digital Hitler
08. All In Ashes
09. In Fire
10. Chrysalis
11. Field Of Human Candles
12. Last Embrace - Skrik Pt II
13. Pile Of Butterfly Wings
Please be welcome to follow Dante on his journey to hell, actually the modern, artificial and industrialized version of it. Be welcome to follow the band through thirteen circles of hell. The path into the secluded and deviant infernal underworld with modern world patients Sarcophagic is full of horror and unimaginable terror that slowly unveils the truth behind the questions about the hopes of better life. What is hidden is more terrifying than what the mind and dreams could ever foresee. Where trust, love, wealth and belief are just another words in the vocabulary of decadent age, Sarcophagic plays with everyones imagination in their vision of sonic procreation of evil and greed, yet what is discovered behind this curtain of blasphemic madness is as beautiful as it is ruinous. Their soundscape pulls every horror imaginable to the surface. The shadows come alive with dancing nude angels whose disfigurements and weeping wounds beckon your unbridled attention.
By melting down the most aggressive version of imaginable electronics with agonizing industrial sequences and shading it with the most nihilistic black metal blasphemy, the band recreates one hell of torturing audio experience that leaves no space for relaxation of mind and spirit. By ruining the hopes of mankind already with a dreadful introduction, Sarcophagic, delivers a constant destruction, but yet pretty well refined and controlled, it seems that they exactly know what's alike in the tenebrous infernal shores underneath, where souls of people who in life did nothing good are tormented by being punished eternally as a reflection of the spiritual stagnation they lived in. Like from the dusk behind the devastating cavalcade there's a glimpse of dancing shades that enjoy in perverted melodies constantly lurking in the background.
Punishing industrial beats, agonizing shrieking tormented and electrified vocals, crushing guitar riffs and profound bass lines guides the listener through digitalized assault of sounds, especially in the first ten tracks Sarcophagic doesn't leave any space for some sparks, meeting also a modern version of Hitler ("Digital Hitler") on the way and serving with such a flamboyant accessible melodies in "My Factory", where I was racking my brains out with such a familiar melody and couldn't guess where I've heard it before. Then as the gates of hell are not already open enough, the band continues with digital blasphemic ambiances in "All In Ashes" and exposes the most inner killer insticts in confused "Violence", just listen to the great atmospheric synts painting the hopeless ruined canvas with darkest colours and making it look so beautiful. You won't believe it but Sarcophagic are masters in creating their sound dynamic as hell, pushing you into ablazing orgiastic dance with occasional synth-pop and EBM features, just listen what kind of composition is malignant preach in flowing "In Fire". Some might notice similar song structures as on early works of Marily Manson, or even Ministry, plucked by compositional sense of Satyricon and lyrical themes that are so dear to Cradle Of Filth, but in here everything gets another level of aggression, decadence and aesthetics.
From there on we are left somehow broken, with nothing left to expect and like out of nowhere the band goes in another direction, adding more contrast to the innitial suffocating atmosphere, first with cold instrumental "Chrysalis" and right after it with the most evocative track on the album, the industrial epic hymn "Field Of Human Candles", like if there's nothing left and only darkness is the future, the American trio offers soothing gloomy ambiance with an unimaginable dose of almost sweet melody, but yet the beats in the background don't allow to forget from where everything derives. From here on is just like being trapped in a sadistical vision of confused mind that perfectly sees and can read your deepest fears, but the listener who is bold enough to enter Sarcophagic's hell must be in a way masochistic to pursue the doomy artificial horrifying path of "Last Embrace - Skrik Pt II" and to survive the embraces of almost gentle coldness of the last one, nine minutes long "Pile Of Butterfly Wings", where punishers come forth even with clean vocals, just like if everything was kind of a twisted joke.
Birth Of The Betrayer is a modern, well structured and decadent piece of sonic art, with a soundscape that has one foot in metal and the other one in industrial, it conjures a brutal, yet atmospheric catchy sonic madness. An album that must be a joy to every fan of industrial, to fans of extreme metal that are not afraid to explore beyond the borders, for each and every lover of aggressive electronic sounds, it's a classy shock therapy for all of you. Number 666 is burnt into it's hide, a hybrid beast, a modern era clairvoyant preacher of hopeless human existence.
Review written by: T.V.
Rating: 8,5/10
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