Saturday, December 28, 2019

SARKE - Gastwerso review



SARKE - Gastwerso

Indie Recordings





Back in 2009 is when I got into SARKE with their debut full length Vorunah. That was when it was a blackened super group featuring multi-instrumentalist Thomas "Sarke" Bergli of KHOLD fame and Ted "Nocturno Culto" Skjellum from DARKTHRONE on guitar and vocals. They were pretty much a black n roll act with some doom influence. 


At the same time DARKTHRONE were in their blackened speed metal phase. So ya kinda got caught in a decision of who was better. I ended up liking both and still followed SARKE over the past decade with their next bunch of full lengths. All of which are damm good. I always thought it was funny that Nocturno Culto always expanded his out of DARKTHRONE moments to music. Were as his partner in DARKTHRONE, Fenriz, went onto being an icon to hipsters via website posts and documentary nonsense.


Now as far as this, SARKE's sixth full length, goes the band (which also includes keyboardist Anders Hunstad, guitarists Stian Krabol from KHOLD and Steinar Gundersen who handles the lead work plus full time drummer Terje Krabol) have settled on continuing what they started with 2016’s Bogefod full length. We're talking about some decent black n roll, mildly symphonic stuff plus some neo-folk cuts.


On a whole Nocturno Culto once again gets to expand his vocal style whether it's actual singing or speaking through cuts. He's also accompanied once again by a female vocalist from past releases. Musically once again SARKE create a varied album which keeps things interesting. I find myself stumped as to which is better, the rocking cuts or the cleaner acoustic odes. With two previous albums of experimentation, Gastwerso ends up being the culmination of everything great that this act has done previously.


https://shop.indierecordings.no/

https://sarkeband.bandcamp.com/album/gastwerso

https://www.facebook.com/sarkeofficial


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