Gripping directly at the throat and milling the saw of its thousand-toothed ingress the fixation of the aggressor’s predatorial hand rakes its tunneling cut through flesh and elaborate melodic vein as the acrid harass of Tampere, Finland-based black metal quartet SARGEIST returns raw, bloodied but not ragged for a sixth bout of their ardent mayhem and sacrificial wounding. Their surprise-revealed latest full-length album, ‘Flame Within Flame‘, reminds the ear-bearer whom the catalyst and catalyzed are in focusing on the band’s most influential voice, their classic sound, through pure and clear presentation. For the returning fandom it’ll be an essential release, a characteristic feat without question and less of a direct continuation of their previous full-length.

Founded circa 1999 via guitarist/vocalist Shatraug and fostered into one of the better-known and influential bands informing the post-millennium Finnish black metal zeitgeist the signature of Sargeist is not limited to its guitar expression yet their distinctly bitter-tongued melancholia delivered in sickly melodic strand should be recognizable from a mile away at this point. ‘Flame Within Flame‘ bears the intensity and the undeterred immersive fixation which defined the band between their later demo-era and first couple of albums where their second LP (‘Disciple of the Heinous Path‘, 2005) is a particular favorite of mine for its hissing atmosphere and slower sections. Granted many would argue what anyone expects or wants from the band is directly in line with ‘Let the Devil In‘ (2010). I wouldn’t dispute the boon it’d brought to their melodic black metal voice, the clarity of the production values and the riveting depth of the result is well-proven, though this is a band able to achieve similarly enriching work regardless of the render as their impact truly arrives within the guitar work.

The 2010’s were an odd beast in Sargeist‘s hands as the first half essentially concluded the band’s long standing collaboration with key members of Behexen wherein ‘Feeding the Crawling Shadows‘ (2014) was arguably an apex for some and a disorienting release for others per its cosmic horrified vision and grotesquely raw sound. I’ve come to appreciate how different that album is in tone yet the signature of the band was obscured by it to some degree, though I believe the true devotee would still find great value in it. Beyond that point ~two dozen releases from a dozen different projects would pass through Shatraug‘s hands, including some vital records from Horna, but his output in Sargeist was deliberate as the line-up shifted. I’d personally loved ‘Unbound‘ (2018) when I’d reviewed it though I’d understood when folks said it almost sounded like a different band. It is their most ambitious and adventurous album to date which did well to explore the range of a new vocalist, though their expansion of that thought within ‘Death Veneration‘ (2019) was more focused on melody driven feats. For this new album the line-up once again shifts and in the process the band’s sound pulls the reigns back toward the domain of their first three releases, particularly ‘Let the Devil In‘.

After several years spent listening to numerous bands that sound like Sargeist a piece like opener “An Eternal Dream Beyond The Accursed Portent” offers welcome reminder of the difference, a tough thing to do when folks have covered and dissected past work down to theory both on YouTube and in practicum. A great black metal opener has some manner of impact enough to inspire the waves to come and this has always been a strength of collaboration between Shatraug and VJS (Nightbringer, Demoncy) though I suppose heading into this album most existing fans are perking up their ears to get a better idea of the former’s approach to vocals. While it isn’t the ear-crippling rasp found on their debut the cadence and somewhat buried presence works well beside the fast-burning melodic black metal thread which dominates the experience. The title track is probably the best song outright which lend an example of both the new vocal affect and the soar of their riffcraft in relation to the early days of the band.

Not every piece here is immediately a conflagration of head-spinning tremolo-picked grandeur as “The Chant Of Rotting Tongues” and “Juravit Sanguine” take on a sort of rocking jog at one point or another and this is more-or-less in continuation of some of the material we’d heard on ‘Death Veneration‘ in some respect. Otherwise this is the type of fast-paced, melody driven album which I’m less prone to pick at the details and moreso admire the major rhythmic thread of the release alongside the flow through from start to finish, in this sense ‘Far Away From the Sun‘ is the ideal rather than the simpler forms of Mütiilation but ultimately their work is still closer in tone and spirit to Seigneur Voland than anything else. You’ll understand what I mean when arriving upon a song like “To The Mistress Of Blackest Magic”, the general dance of the song’s tempo map and the ~three main guitar threads which hum and harmonize throughout.

The aforementioned rocking step of “Juravit Sanguine” takes an interesting role here as the more time I’d spent listening to ‘Flame Within Flame‘ the more I’d seen it as a mass of songs which serve gestural roles. That is to say that the album -feels- like it is winding down and preparing for its finale without having to pay attention to the time passing. Sargeist haven’t always telegraphed their movements in such an orderly way and per my own experience it was more of a guided tour through a pitch black realm than it was a collapse into a horn-lined pit of hell. This was one of the successes of the most recent material from Taake and I’d similarly appreciated how subtler modulation can yield memorable shifts in tone and temperament in the right hands.

The full listen of ‘Flame Within a Flame‘ reads as a complete thought rounded into multifaceted and melodious feat which roars in and then takes its time marveling at the miserable destruction resultant. There is far more than sorrowful dread or fiery Satanic wonderment to be gleaned from the tone of Sargeist‘s work here but I feel the most important success to point out via this sixth unholy event is that this record delivers the signature of the artist in a very clear way… it sounds like Sargeist. This alone will assure an easy connection with existing fandom and ideally prompt new listeners to pull back to the 2002-2010 era and appreciate the continuity achieved. If you’d gone in wanting something markedly different, results will vary. A very high recommendation.

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