Artist: Sarastus
Country: Finland
Label: Dominance of Darkness Records
Format: LP / CD
Year: 2025
Five years have passed since the last release by Finland’s Sarastus, even six if you count the time since the last full-length. Time that did not pass by uneventfully. While founding member Dusk remains the core member of the band and continues to provide the guitar and bass, he has resigned his duties as drum programmer. Instead, the band recruited Anzillu, drummer of amongst others Order Of Nosferat, Iku-Turso and Curse Upon A Prayer to take over the drum batons. Finally, the band switched vocalists, with Galgenvot of Wrang fame taking over helm. The result is quite frankly the best Sarastus album to date, ‘Agony Eternal’.
Despite all the changes, Sarastus did not change course. As soon as ‘Gravelust’ kicks off the album, the fast-paced melody and melancholy that featured on the previous records is immediately obvious. Quite clearly, the band took inspiration from Sargeist, and in particular a record like ‘Let the Devil In’ seems to have left a considerable imprint upon Sarastus. Furthermore, it feels like the Swedish melodic Black Metal of Dissection left a permanent mark, in part in the chugging Heavy Metal passages but as a whole in the feeling of the melodies as well. What is also clear is that the addition of the new members has also greatly enhanced the band. Anzillu is an excellent drummer who adds interesting accents, and his propulsive style at times reminds me of Darkside of Mgła. Galgenvot in turn screams, growls, does some clean singing and oohs his way through the tracks. All this makes the music of Sarastus more outspoken, more differentiating and above all, more diverse. Not in the least, because it feels as if Dusk has really stepped up the songwriting, scattering memorable riffs and melodies all across the record to great effect.
Without reinventing the style, ‘Agony Eternal’ offers plenty of catchy hooks and memorable melodies. Take for instance the the aforementioned opener, the cracking tempo and escalating catchy riffs of ‘Metamorphosis’ or the piercing tremolo picking of ‘Towards Eternity’ combined with properly deranged vocals. ‘No Horizon’ is one of the most interesting tracks, being slower and more subtle in the melodies and clearly a little bit different than the rest. Likewise, ‘From Pride, To Shame, To Misery’ slower’ starts off in a more chugging Heavy Metal manner and combines it with plenty of uptempo parts and tremolo melodies. It also contains clean vocals that are paired with screams, adding nice contrast while the clean vocals in closer ‘1644’ depth and mood to the song. Perhaps the only place where the clean vocals go a bit overboard is in ‘Where Cruelty Never Ends’, but the passion seems evident. Otherwise, the track is noteworthy for featuring the late Trevor Strnad, quite possibly the last recording he contributed to before his untimely passing.
‘Agony Eternal’ is a perfectly logical follow-up to the previous material of Sarastus, but above all, it’s a significant step up. The melodies are more catchy and captivating, the drums are more dynamic and the vocals are richer and more diverse. As such, the album sounds much more convincing, and the band has created a record that from start to finish manages to stand tall in the large volume of melodic Black Metal from Finland.
