Doomsday Elite is the third offering from Oslo’s Sarkom and is a fantastic slice of black metal.
Things get off to a great start with title track Doomsday Elite. With wonderfully punctuated vocals from Unsgaard, sounding like he’s screaming for dear life, it adds a great atmosphere on top of the crashing drums and riff-filled guitar lines – what a way to get the album going! One of the best things about this release is that it really doesn’t let up the pace, and it’s almost like Unsgaard doesn’t quite have time to breathe at the speed of his vocal delivery! The sheer passion behind his vocals is something to behold and you get a great sense of this the further you delve into the album.
The best track by far is Inside A Haunted Chapel. Beginning with a noisy myriad of absolutely everything, it seems like the sole aim of the introduction is just to be as noisy as possible, and it really works. The growled vocals are especially strong on this track, and the way everything within the track gels together is absolutely stunning. It’s just a striking track, to say the least, and the inclusion of keys/synth is a great touch too.
The album ends with Stigma – an all-out aggressive track that feels like one last burst of energy before the album winds to a close. The chorus has a great little addition of a melodic guitar riff in it, which adds a lot to the otherwise harshness of the song, and really helps the track to cement itself as a strong ending to the album.
All in all, I have no real complaints about this album, but on the other hand there isn’t really anything that truly makes it stand out from the crowd. It sounds quite similar to every other black metal album out there – but as the saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
8/10
