Premiere: Sadistik Forest – Barbarian
In which we swing out with out twigs out, barbarian style.
Sadistik Forest came out swinging with their eponymous 2010 debut of thick, gluey death metal. But their active period only seemed to last a few years, with a “fare thee well” prepared on 2013’s split with Septory’s closing number, a cover of Anal Cunt’s and Thor’s classic “Throwing Cars at People (on Coke with Thor)”, which single-handedly revived the entire world’s interest in the once tight & mighty veterans.
Though the band never broke up, bassist/vocalist Markus Makkonen proved unable to see the Sadistik Forest from the trees*, as he busied himself as the live vocalist and studio bassist of the most excellent death/doom group Hooded Menace, joined the international black/thrashers Infektor and Mutilation Process, all the while preparing to relaunch his solo outfit Nerve Saw, while the other members stood relatively still.
Transcending Obscurity has been showing a growing interest in the younger Finnish death metal scene (and I use the term ‘younger’ in an extremely loose and relative sense) with the signings of Sepulchral Curse and Revulsion, and it was their interest that seemed to renew Sadistik Forest’s vigor. Though each of the three play the same kind of death metal and avoid elements most foreigners (which is to say non-Finnish people) tend to associate with the Finnish death metal scene, none of them sound alike. With Morbid Majesties, it was Sadistik Forest’s mission to strengthen their identity by diversifying their songwriting, avoiding certain beats, patterns and rhythms that could have come to be associated with the band almost synonymously, and stepped up their guitarwork in terms of solos and leads by a mile or three.
Obscure Old Remains continues on this wider path and introduces to the band the guitarist Jarkko Lahtinen, though technically he’s the band’s original axeman but makes his debut on a recording here, as well as says farewell to drummer Vesa Mutka, marking the band’s first (and likely last) release with their original line-up, some 14 years after their founding.
Today, we are delighted to premiere the second single off of Obscure Old Remains, titled “Barbarian”. It’s a mix of spacious power chords, a steady double bass beat like inevitable treads crawling towards your person and a rousing lead. It also sees Makkonen focus on the higher register of his vocal range, lending both it, and the EP, a strained, violent edge.
Keep up with Sadistik Forest news on Facebook, Transcending Obscurity’s too. And check out another song streaming from Obscure Old Remains, which releases in full on May 28th, on Bandcamp.
