Sarke - Gastwerso (2019)

Gastwerso capitalizes on the success of Viige Urh with a few minor tweaks, but I was really satisfied that they continued with this brighter, more kinetic-sounding production style, just as clean as most of the prior albums, but here the guitar riffs sound a little more sharp and cutting. Part of this is the emphasis on some heavier material, for instance the tremolo black metal riff explosion in the middle of awesome opener "Ghost War". There's also a little more mystique to this album, perhaps a more Eastern influence to the melodies in the synthesizers that make it all a bit more exotic and evil. I don't know that this one can match its predecessor blow for blow, but it's another excellent addition to Sarke's catalog.

Again, they've got an awesome combination of opening tracks to grab you, but where the album starts to get real interesting is "Mausoleum". They've used synths plenty through the discography, and always tastefully so, adding more than subtracting, but "Mausoleum" is the first case for me where they feel as if they're really attempting an arrangement. This one feels truly symphonic, the synths scintillating, the guitars and drums working in tandem to support it, and the little wailing melodies create such a stark contrast against NC's voice and the lyrics, which have this sad simplicity and finality to them befitting the title. What a cool track, and something new in the Sarke canon. This isn't entirely representative of the album, but they've got some other experiments here like the sultry acoustics and ambiance of "The Endless Wait" and the Goth-y/sympho step of "In the Flames", which admittedly is a little goofy with the placement of the verse lyrics and such, but in a good way.

Don't worry though, if you want more of the simpler black/thrash with the keys, there are plenty of those tunes here, like "Echoes from the Ancient Crucifix" or "Rebellious Bastard", two more easy highlights for me, and the latter even devolves into an almost Western vibe. I guess Gastwerso would overall win the award for the most 'prog' album in their catalogue to its day, the one most interested in expanded the band's portfolio to avoid the redundancy that might be created by the typical black & white cover images and overall minimalism. But that's not a bad thing, because it's largely fucking awesome; not every left turn here works equally, but overall the satisfaction level is quite high and it's another I often head back to.

Verdict: Win [8.5/10] (Blocking all the sight)

https://sarkeband.bandcamp.com/