Review SARKE ‘Allsighr’

Sarke and Nocturno Culto are the driving forces of an outfit that started in 2008 in Oslo, Norway. After having added six longplayers to their list of achievements, Sarke worked on a next album that carries the title ‘Allsighr’.

The band picks it up where they left off with ‘Gastwerso’ and it is still a tough thing to add the band to a certain genre. Too many influences find a home when it comes to the sound of the quintet. Rock from the 70’s, metal from the 80’s and black metal from the 90’s, all these genres have an impact on Sarke’s sound, also when it comes to the newest album. What acts as a glue that keeps all the influences together is a blackened vibe that adds darkness to each of the ten songs in ‘Allsighr’.

‘Bleak Reflections’ marks the dark and atmospheric beginning of an album that ends with ‘Imprisoned’ in a heavy pounding way. Listening to these two tracklist-framing songs and everything in between gives you the impression of Sarke having embedded a hellish grin into this album. Especially the closer, not being the heaviest track on ‘Allsighr’, impresses by a repetitive beat with a hypnotic effect. Another interesting song is the name-giver of the album. ‘Allsighr’ is a massive track in slower pace and with dark soundscapes that act as the reflection of hellfire.

Compared to the title track the following ‘Beheading of the Circus Director’ is a pretty straight-forward song. Sarke shifts gears and created a real black’n’roller that excites. There could be more of these songs on the album. It would help ‘Allsighr’ since the album stays too much in the same pattern when it comes to songs. After a while one get the feeling of listening to the same song only different. There are some variations on a more detailed level, but it is the general mood that is too repetitive. Although the individual songs are good it is too much of the same and some ups and downs would help the flow of the album.