Album Review: Sarastus – Agony Eternal (Dominance of Darkness Records)

Highly regarded Finnish black metal band, Sarastus, release their highly anticipated and long awaited 3rd album, Agony Eternal on July 1st via Dominance of Darkness Records on CD and Vinyl.

Sarastus formed in 2014 and released their debut full length album , II – Toinen tuleminen, in 2016. It was a well received album and made a big impression, particularly in the Finnish black metal scene. In 2019, they released their next album, Enter The Necropolis, and an EP titled The Deceased Dwell in Darkness. Continuing that impressive output, 2020 saw them release a split album with fellow Finns, Goats of Doom. So, with plenty of live bookings under their belt and momentum on their side, Sarastus looked set to take over the world. But then came silence…….

The band went through some line up changes with vocalist Revenant stepping down and handing the mic over to Galgenvot (Wrang, Nevel). Multi-instrumentalist Dusk handed his drums over to the prolific Anzillu (Order of Nosferat, Curse Upon a Prayer, Iku-Turso) and settled on covering guitars and bass instead. With a new and settled lineup, Sarastus started work on album number 3, Agony Eternal. Looking to retain their characteristics of delivering freezing fire, passion and urgency but with sharpened songwriting skills, Sarastus will hope to pick up where they left off and regain that momentum.

Sarastus is Galgenvot on vocals, Dusk on guitars and bass and Anzillu on drums.

Sarastus deliver 9 new tracks on Agony Eternal getting underway with Gravelust and a strong opportunity to hear what this band are about, if you haven’t heard them before. It won’t take long to get that understanding in place. An instant blast of familiar black metal sounds blazes out with speed riffs, pounding, but quite muffled drums, and screeching leads – it’s dark, it’s harsh and heavy. The vocals are of course growled with tons of power and might.

What might surprise you though is how atmospheric this is – I was expecting something more on the traditional side but am really excited that we have something more akin to, say Gaerea in the atmospheric side, helped by the stunning melodies on the lead guitar. There are definite icy traditional vibes here too and it seems Sarastus may have found a place balancing the line between traditional and post black metal. I love this song.

The magic continues throughout Agony Eternal too with the title track being possibly the catchiest black metal track you will hear this year. The drums are insane, the beat and tempo is just insanely welcoming and that melodic edge, that hook driven catchiness is a welcome side to the band. As this song breaks down into the heavier stuff with mad drum and riff speed and ferocious but passionate vocals, you really feel that these guys are on to something special here.

Sarastus have delivered a mighty album here and really every track is a highlight but to avoid this review becoming 1000 words of me just saying how awesome it is, I’ll jump to some of the many highlights. Towards Eternity, a longer track at near 6 minutes has the most mesmerising lead guitar melody in it’s verses that works so well with the absolute bashing the drums are getting. The vocals are superb, the bass and riffs thick and powerful. Plenty of transitions and tweaks to the tempo, changes to the vocal tone and style make the 6 minutes pass by in what feels like seconds.

Where Cruelty Never Ends features guest vocals from the late Trevor Strnad of The Black Dahlia Murder is a banger bringing heavy atmosphere through the band’s clever combinations. The additional vocals from Trevor add a lot to the track and are obviously quite emotional to listen to. The song seems fitting, being so equally brutal, yet atmospherically charged.

No Horizon – another stunning track with a more rhythmic tempo, plenty of vocal skills shown off, and a catchy as hell drum beat. Metamorphosis is also stunning and a great example of Sarastus’ songwriting skills as the song, all the songs, just flow so perfectly being constantly engaging throughout. There is no room for minds wandering, nor repetition felt. Here, once again, that perfectly balanced line between harsh black metal, and atmospheric feeling backed by melodic lead guitars is honed to perfection. The verses have you raging and headbanging, the choruses, even though they raise in intensity, see the melody join and feel huge and are definitely memorable.

From Pride, To Shame, To Misery offers more variety with an extended and supremely catchy, hard rock intro that engages you instantly before the black metal takes over and washes through you. It’s another new combination and Sarastus pull it off. The contrast between the superbly aggressive verses and that intro rocking beat that returns as bridges throughout is perfect. More vocal changes and some additional layers to the vocals add more depth as the melody from the lead guitars blazes over a bed of intense riffing and drum blasts. Is this my favourite song so far? It might be though it’s hard to choose.

I don’t want Agony Eternal to end but we are at penultimate track time so it is close. Into The Lair raises the aggression levels up, as well as the speed with a furious track where the drums are machine like and the vocals are intense and powerful. The riffs are blackened and cold but despite it definitely being more in tune with traditional black metal of modern times, that layer of melody keeps that signature Sarastus atmospheric vibe, even if that atmosphere is thick and threatening.

We close out this immense album with the song 1644 and no surprises for guessing that I love it, making it a full album of bangers for me. Stretching some more creative muscles, the band go for a slower and dangerous melody in the intro. Drums grow into that and then bag, we let loose and mosh like our lives depend on it. Fast, fiery, cold, aggressive – you name it, the band throw it all at us in furious verses with a really cool drum pattern.

A touch of clean vocals add layers of depth with the harsh vocals dropping to the background for a bit to make up the chorus. That transitions so smoothly back into the harsh verses and as we close out, the cleans, the harsh, the tempo, all comes at you at once to close out Agony Eternal in a way that you won’t forget and that will have you desperately scrambling for the “replay” button.

I have made it pretty clear throughout so this brief summary isn’t going to surprise you much when I say that Sarastus have created one of the greatest albums I have heard this year so far with Agony Eternal. An album of perfect balance, bringing the harshness of black metal but with plenty of atmosphere, surprising catchiness and immense creativity. Superb song writing and flow, I’ll be listening to this all year. Immense effort!

Track List:

01 – Gravelust
02 – Agony Eternal
03 – Towards Eternity
04 – Where Cruelty Never Ends
05 – No Horizon
06 – Metamorphosis
07 – From Pride, To Shame, To Misery
08 – Into The Lair
09 – 1644

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