This early in the band’s career, the teenagers in Swedish black/thrash quartet Sarcator will likely find much of their media coverage focused on the fact that their guitarist/vocalist, Mateo Tervonen, is the son of the Crown guitarist Marko Tervonen. It’s an easy intro point to a young band just finding its feet, but that connection doesn’t define Sarcator—rounded out by Felix Lindkvist (bass/backing vocals), Emil Eriksson (lead guitar/backing vocals) and Jesper (drums)—who have plenty of chops and a well-developed sound, black and thrashy in all the right spots, of their own.
“He Who Comes From the Dark,” from the band’s upcoming second album, Alkahest, is an ambitious eight-plus-minute track with Sarcator’s ample songwriting an arranging skills on display. It’s well-paced, intense and augmented thoughtfully with flashes of melodic guitar work. It’s a bold choice to release as a single, due to its length, but the chorus offers a good hook, and the track never lags.
Alkahest was recorded, mixed and mastered by by the elder Tervonen at Studio-MT and Studio N3, Trollhattan, Sweden, and is slated for release via Black Lion Records on November 4. You can order it on CD, vinyl and cassette, in addition to digitally, here.
This is Sarcator’s take on their latest single:
“‘He Who Comes from the Dark’ was a challenging song to make. It challenged our musicianship and demanded a lot of dedication. The result turned out to be this long, strange song, filled with a lot of darkness, thought and meaning. Many build-ups, eruptions, chanting lines and layers build an atmosphere of impending concrete clouds hailing for eight minutes. Enjoy!”