Discog Diving: Sacramentum
In Memoriam: Nisse Karlén, Ave Sacramentum
2025 is seriously starting to become one of the worst and most exhausting years in recent memory. Aside from the world being set on fire by some of the worst men alive, in the world of heavy music we saw the passing of Ozzy Osbourne, Brent Hinds of Mastodon and now Nisse Karlén of Sacramentum, who took his own life according to the band. It’s a tragedy in every sense of the word, and it’s something that’s been weighing on me because I literally saw Sacramentum live in early 2025 during the South American tour and got to meet Nisse, who was as gracious and welcoming off-stage as he was a force of darkness on-stage.
Suffice to say, Sacramentum has been playing on every device I own since the announcement of Karlén’s passing, and the only fitting tribute I can think of doing is paying due respect to his band, which despite being widely revered in the underground, I still feel is a bit underrated due to almost always being eclipsed by Dissection. And so, let’s begin.
Finis Malorum (1994)
Due to Sacramentum having such a short discography, it makes sense to start with their debut EP. While EPs are often downplayed as side releases, there are cases where they’re essential to a band’s legacy, and this is one of them. This EP is the linchpin of Sacramentum’s sound in the sense that you can hear them in real time transition from a raw and brutal blackened death metal band into the titans of melodic and atmospheric blackened death metal they’re better known for.
The one area where this EP falls a bit short is the production, while it’s nowhere near the other black metal records of the time, it has that dry sound and where the drums sound too distant and digital despite actually being played by a an actual person, though, it is worth nothing that this is the band’s only major release with original drummer Mikael Rydén –his drumming is competent but a bit standard–, who would then be replaced by the powerhouse that is Nicklas Rudolfsson, other than that, Finis Malorum is the moment Sacramentum became themselves, combining brutal speed with sorrowful, melodic riffing while still featuring traces of their early “evil death metal” sound, making it an essential piece of the band’s evolution.
Far Away From the Sun (1996)
There are albums that achieve such a definitive significance in their niches that saying anything would feel short or repetitive after so long. Far Away from the Sun is such an album. It is Sacramentum’s masterwork and the album that cemented their standing in the world of melodic black metal and extreme Swedish metal.
Sacramentum’s style is perfected here; while they often get compared to Dissection and Unanimated—which isn’t entirely unfounded, all three bands did their definitive records at Unisound with Dan Swanö—it’s the little details beyond the obvious signifiers of Swedish blackened death metal. The album mixes classic metal melodicism reminiscent of Iron Maiden and Mercyful Fate with the obscure brutality of death metal and the desolate atmospherics of black metal, and it all mixes perfectly. Furthermore the album flows so well thanks to the band’s excellent songwriting, courtesy of guitarist Anders Brolycke and drummer Nicklas Rudolfsson. The late Nisse, along with handling vocals also took up the bass, and all three are in perfect sync with each other; the end result speaks for itself which is now completely enshrined as a definitive classic.
The Coming of Chaos (1997)
While some of the praise that Far Away from the Sun receives is in hindsight—back in those days there was no internet to look up European extreme metal bands—no artist wants to be in the unenviable position of following up a record where everything worked perfectly and risk making something that falls short of it. Sacramentum, however, took that challenge. 1997’s The Coming of Chaos, while not as revered as its predecessor, is still a worthy record and a decent follow up.
The most immediate difference that makes this album stand out is how much faster and aggressive it is. The band really honed into making a more metallic record and even brought some of their early evil death metal leanings mixed with their classic metal melodicism. Furthermore, the overall songwriting is tighter and more focused, so the experience is a much leaner record with no fat or filler whatsoever, and since the same lineup from the previous record is still here, their chemistry and individual skills are still strong.
Art by Kristian “Necrolord” Wåhlin.
One final thing I want to highlight about this record is how in preparation of what would sadly be Nisse’s final tour, the band reissued The Coming of Chaos with a complete remix, remaster and new artwork by Dan Swanö and Kristian “Necrolord” Wåhlin, respectively. I bring this up because the biggest issue with the original version of the album was its notoriously wonky production sound and less than stellar cover. The 2024 reissue basically solves both issues, although it makes the record look and sound kinda like “Even Farther Away from the Sun,” but again, the band’s songwriting and performances are so strong and the new version makes them pop even more. Also, the original release’s closing title track had an insufferable 10-minute long outro of distorted noise, which the band wisely trimmed, so all in all, this is one of the few cases a remixing and remastering improves a record.
Thy Black Destiny (1999)
And thus our journey ends with the last Sacramentum record of Nisse’s lifetime, 1999’s Thy Black Destiny. While this record—up until the previous one’s reissue—was considered the band’s second-best record, on account of the production (which we’ll get to) it’s still a bit underrated and overshadowed by the first. However, it’s still well regarded because it was a more radical change of pace.
The band are obviously still playing their now fully-refined style of epic blackened death metal, but for Thy Black Destiny, they fully brought back their original death metal leanings and mixed them with the leaner and more refined songwriting of the previous 2 records. The result is the band’s most aggressive and brutal record, with a bigger emphasis on heavy riffs and frenzied soloing. That last change of pace was the result of the lineup expanding into a quartet with the inclusion of Niclas Andersson of Lord Belial as a second guitarist (he also provided some guest solos on the previous record), and his inclusion is abundantly evident. He also joined Anders Brolycke and Niclas Andersson in songwriting duties, and again it is very noticeable, as the guitar work hits that perfect sweet spot between black and death metal.
While the entire quartet performs admirably, I have to single out the late great Nisse Karlén, not just for his distinct, dry growls, but also his bass playing, as he’s able to match the intensity of the guitars and with a powerful tone. This brings me to the production: for this record, the band teamed up again with Andy LaRoque at Los Angered Recording; despite the original mixing of the previous record being iffy, on this record they actually nail a rawer sound. The production is still very loud, with a bass-heavy mix, but it does work here. The music being much more brutal definitely benefits from the harsher sound, and the band working as a quartet also adds greater depth and dynamics which enhances the music with the production, and the end result is a great, cohesive and aggressive record to get your blood pumping.
There really are no words to describe what a tragedy it is that Nisse Karlén ended it all, and having seen his band live and meeting the guy just a couple of months beforehand made this experience more harrowing. When Karlén took the stage he was a force to be reckoned with, so full of life and giving his all in every song. The lyrics he wrote for Sacramentum in many ways reflected the darkness he himself struggled with, and it saddens me that neither the power of music nor the love he got from that last tour could ward off his demons. The only solace I take and hope for his bandmates is that the legacy he left behind is etched in eternity.
