I have to say, that I'm a sucker for H.P. Lovecraft's stories. This might be a contributory cause for me checking out this Finnish band with a name taken from his legendary writings. Another reason might be comparing Sarnath to Sentenced. 'Amok' came out in 1995, and 'Overshine' the next year. Both albums mixed melodic death metal with heavy metal and rock, and rather heavy touch of Finnish melancholy. And stylistically aren't miles (sorry, kilometres...) away from each other.

Loads of death metal bands in Finland went through big stylistical changes during their careers, and often at early point. Convulse, Xysma, Disgrace to name a few, and of course Sentenced... While the change towards more heavy metal/rock influenced band was evident on 'Overshine', on their sophomore album, 'Life...Lies', Sarnath travelled further from melodic death metal. Gone are gruff Taneli Jarva style vocals, as the new mic-guy was fronting the band here. The vocals are the biggest deficiency on the album, hands down. Now there is a guy with nasal voice quite a bit like Waltari's wacky Kärtsy Hatakka. Sometimes he is searching for correct notes going to and fro with wobbling voice, sometimes finding it and at other times failing at it. Plus, the rather high-pitched vocals really do not fit with the music at all, but when they go a bit more gruff, it immediately gets better. However, it is hardly the worst, or even close, vocal performance that I've heard, and can get somewhat tolerable with time.

Some songs have heavy riffing, but are more reminiscent of heavy Swedish heavy metal bands such as Morgana Lefay, Tad Morose and Divine Sin, and for example post-death metal Cemetary ('Slave of Religion'). So gothic, melancholic stuff is a big part of Sarnath's sound. Another band that comes to my mind is Silentium, thanks to classical stuff here and there; 'Beneath the Surface's start, for example, is a fine example of that, with its violin and viola playing (not MIDI, but real instruments). The band whiskes in Convulse style rocking bits, and that specifies Sarnath. Composition-wise, songs are more or less meandering, except for 'The Final Trial' and 'My Mistress' (whici are easily the worst songs on offer), and this factor is one of the positive sides of the album; they never let a listener too easy by going with pop arrangements. It has some surprises along the way, and I find it makes the album more interesting. This includes loads of fiery lead guitar work, which is reminiscent of Miika Tenkula of Sentenced. The album certainly feels like a not-that-distant cousin of 'Amok'.

The drums have a lot of echo in their sound, with the snare drum ending up sounding like a firecracker or a whiplash, making it a bit too present in the mix. Actually this as a whole sounds like it was played in a hall, because there is a lot of reverb on every instrument and vocals. But it still does pack some punch (not only because of that firecracker...), and is rather well-balanced (except for that firecracker...). The bass guitar really brings in some low-end. The instruments are stylishly played with skill yet with vigour.

So, any Lovecraft-themed lyrics, then? No, I think not. There are only some of the lyrics printed for each song, and they seem to be filled with melancholy and questioning religions. If you enjoy melancholic melodic death metal with grooving and blazing rock bits, and gothic elements, you might want to try Sarnath. See if you can get into them vocals...

Rating: 7- (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
10/22/2018 19:55