With a thousand oaken cracks resounding at once the greying heaps of ruined flesh that lay rotting within the catacombs begin to articulate into monstrous warrior forms, thundering their horrors arisen by the undead sorcell of Sydney, Australia-based death metal quartet SARCOPHAGUM who bring their vision screaming back from the underworld on this debut full-length album. Using decayed limbs and madness-lit eyes yanked from all manner of subterranean horror-depths ‘The Grand Arc of Madness‘ is the ritual, the army and the movement upon the realm of the living in one succinct yet spell-rich chapter. Weighted by golden-red strands of dissonant heave split into duel-woven guitar swells their work is beset by dread and momentous darkness, restless death metal which flows and roars in tragedian washes. What gloriously stoic damage they manage here is admirably focused, honed down to a properly succinct debut statement which serves as formidable yet less than taxing introduction to leave the keen ear wanting more.

We can consider Sarcophagum a dark and semi-dissonant death metal focused offshoot from folks involved in past-and-present formations of Golgothan Remains though the fellowes involved had several other projects under their belts at that point of formation in 2021. As far as I’ve gathered the outlier is drummer Robin Stone (Ashen Horde, ex-Paroxsihzem) who’d served as a session drummer on their debut EP (‘Conduits to the Underworld‘, 2022) and their more representative pre-LP standalone single “This Wrought Creation” (2023) before I believe signing on as part of the bands continued efforts. Back in 2022 I’d described their first release as pandemic-spawned, as in largely a response to captivity, calling it a vortex which took cues from the modern evolution of Ulcerate to some degree while also carrying some of the aggrandized tension of Immolation within that general level of rhythmic mastery. Their work has been consistently hypnotic, introspective and more-or-less melancholic from their first release ’til now though we find ‘The Grand Arc of Madness‘ leaning away from the harsher punctuation of atmospheric death metal and toward the oily spraying tides of dissonant ‘blackened’ death muse to some notable extent.

With a contiguous design pervasive through the whole of the experience and only four songs to account for ‘The Grand Arc of Madness‘ is an album built for the vinyl experience but also one which almost necessitates repeated full listens to grasp and appreciate with any serious depth. Though there are technical feats and run-on statements which ensure some manner of impressive movement within every piece, pretty much non-stop, it is not what I’d consider a challenging listen but rather the opposite in that it seeps right through the listener without focus granted to its action. This is of course some of my favorite sort of moderne atmospheric black/death metal musing for the sake of being allowed to steep in the streaming consciousness provided and let it flow past, ideally creating a loop and a whole statement which resounds in the process of repetition; Otherwise the observations to make here are fairly minute, such as the tempered and layered nature of vocalist Chris‘ performances which fuse with the overall tonality of the album rather than bark above it. I’d found the type of sound design has a centering effect, generating a point of view from within an outward bursting production value where the main voice is embedded and never over-active.

In stepping from opener “Ritual Pillars Burn” unto the reared-up rallies that open “Feudal Futures” these songs are constructed with such relevance to one another that their placement feels entirely intentional, simple in what they ultimately present between those first three songs. If there was any reason to break through this wall of thought carrying through each piece it’d be for the sake of shaking things up and out of the serious, dark-droning voice of the band. On one hand I know these folks could work in more outrageous, or, surprising moments but on the other hand things are so tightly arranged here that all of their work feels seamless and intentional in how it plays out. What truly compounds this thought comes with Side B which contains one song, a fifteen plus minute title track (“The Grand Arc of Madness”). There we still find ~2-3 general acts amidst the length of the piece but even more cohesive fusion of ideas as they stretch between deeper despondent tonality and some of the heavier use of discordance in phrase which surprisingly brings cinematic showcase moreso than it does pure death metal heft. This is of course helped along by mixing/master from Greg Chandler at Priory Recording Studios who has paid some proper attention to the bass guitar frequencies that they might shine with Dolan-esque presence and suit the wide berth given to the accomplished nature of Stone‘s drumming. What sings are of course the chiming and swerving lead guitars that direct all flow but it certainly matters that the foundation here is rich with depth and moving as a complete unit.

By only just making their point with a well-linked set of pieces and ending that core thought and ideation in a complete state an ideal first impression is made. Sarcophagum have opted for a perfectly formed chrysalis rather than a cluster of half-finished ideas and this means ‘The Grand Arc of Madness‘ should rightfully not bloat the gut of the listener, it should not be filling to the point of bursting so much as it’ll generate its own sort of grandeur-stoking event which leaves the ear in a state of readiness for more. For my own taste they’ve served the exact right sized chapter to get their greater tome cracked open and glowing with ideas though there is the sense that this is only the beginning, that there is more to add to this thread in terms of sonic distinction and narrative. Still, this is as pro and gloriously considered as a debut LP gets these days and for my own taste this one has some considerable legs as a contained introduction to their realm. A very high recommendation.

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