Sargeist
Feeding The Crawling Shadows

[colored_box color=”grey”]Rating: 7
Label: Moribund Records
Website: Link
Author: Kostas Tsotsanis[/colored_box]

From the very first interaction with the record, the listener can quickly get into the record’s sound and understand that Sargeist produced this one with a raw, old-school, scratching sound, first of all to side along with the older groups of black metal but secondly to embrace a darker and totally undisciplined way of performing, opposing the ideal and crystal-clear sounding of the modern black metal bands. However, one can perfectly hear every single guitar riff and tremolo riff.

With ten songs long, the record offers us great moments, dark melodies and deep, harsh vocals. I must confess, I did not think that Sargeist keeps the interest in high levels every single moment, but one can absorb and gain a lot from ‘ Feeding the Crawling Shadows’. Preaching anti-theism and distance itself from the materialistic world, the dogma of spirituality in which black metal releases the listener is stronger than even in this record.

Many songs like ‘In Charnel Darkness’, ‘ Snares of Impurity’ or ‘ The Unspoken Ones’ makes our mind flee with its significant tremolo, guitar riffs. The whole record is based on those dramatic, melting guitars. However, we don’t find the same passion in all songs, as the record should be two or three songs shorter. Hoath’s vocals are deep, compelling but not as aggressive as we are used to by those kinds of records. Hoath is preaching the lyrics, mixing the harsh sound with a softer component. Sargeist comes to haunt as like a spirit, giving their best to approach a style older than the band and different from the modern-sounding black metal. This choice is something more than acceptable, after all isn’t that something the band has been standing for their entire career?

In overall, ‘Feeding the Crawling Shadows’ is sick and destructive. It could have been better and even more compelling, but the band actually managed to reposition them in the black metal music scene and add another milestone to the Finnish underground scene.