Band:	Sarcophagum
Album:	The Grand Arc Of Madness
Style:	Death metal
Release date:	December 06, 2024
A review by:	musclassia

01. Ritual Pillars Burn
02. Feudal Futures
03. Vermiform
04. The Grand Arc Of Madness

The question of what it means to be a band can sometimes be a thought-provoking one, particularly when popular, long-running bands undertake extensive changes in membership and sound that almost completely redefine the project. At the opposite end of the spectrum are the occasions where several people involved in one band decide to form another one that plays a largely overlapping style, as is the case with Sarcophagum.

The Australian death metallers feature two current and one former member of Golgothan Remains, themselves a relatively new band, and both groups also play a form of death metal in which dissonance serves an integral role. Aside from the specifics of the personnel (Sarcophagum’s line-up on record is rounded out by session drummer Robin Stone, known from the likes of Ashen Horde and Gods Of Eden), the differences between the two projects are very subtle, particularly since they each employ the services of Esoteric’s Greg Chandler as producer; however, those subtleties are ultimately quite important.

Following 2022 EP Conduits To The Underworld, this debut album is relatively taut in terms of total runtime, clocking in just shy of 35 minutes. However, with only 4 comprising tracks, that does work out to quite a lot of runtime per song. Now, long dissonant death metal songs is going to bring Ulcerate to mind for a lot of people, and it’s a fairly apt comparison, particularly in how, like the most recent couple of records from the New Zealand trio, they make good use out of subtle melodic touches. This is how The Grand Arc Of Madness distinguishes itself from the discography of Golgothan Remains; while both meet somewhere in the middle around Ulcerate, Sarcophagum dial down the intensity a tad in comparison to the sister band, and revel in treble-heavy guitar work that eschews the slight caveman violence tendencies of Golgothan Remains.

That’s not to say that The Grand Arc Of Madness isn’t fiercely aggressive and intense, however; as is customary for bands in this niche, Stone is an absolute star behind the drumkit, and he gets plenty of opportunities to let loose with ballistic blasts or double bass rampages, in addition to various other intricate fills and grooves. Opening song “Ritual Pillars Burn” is perhaps the most intense song here overall, with blasts, discordant arpeggios and dissonant tremolos coming together on more than one occasion. Nevertheless, there are some really hooky riffs within this song, often accentuated by tasty rolling grooves. The vocal style demonstrated here, and across the album, is a very cavernous and hoarse growling one, which perhaps fits best with the murkier portions of the record.

One thing that might be said towards this song is whether it pushes beyond the point of optimal resolution, with a fade-out/fade-in more than is needed, something that might also be felt when listening to the 15-minute title track; for what it’s worth, in each instance, I can hear a moment that maybe would not have been missed if removed, but each ends on a strong note, and I don’t find myself longing for the end of either while they’re running. A song that doesn’t have that issue at all is “Feudal Futures”, which starts off nastily discordant and janky, but which shines arguably more so when it brings in slower, doomier trudging riffs. These sections are delicious enough in their base form, but the tremolo lines or arpeggiated chords subsequently laid on top of them raise it all to another level.

All of the above is plenty good fun, but also not unusual for modern dissonant death metal. What is more of a surprise is the track “Vermiform”, which really places those melodic inclinations into greater focus. It’s not devoid of bursts of blasting aggression, but overall it is content to reside in slower paces with more measured drum rhythms, while wallowing in sorrowful motifs. It’s also not the only track with moments where the tremolo lines in moments feel almost more connected to those one might encounter in post-rock. It’s quite a bold change in tone, and it’s one that’s pulled off very well. In contrast, the closing title track, while spanning a large proportion of the band’s range of tempos and intensities, generally sticks to more familiar sounds, whether it be slow and gloomy, rolling and chunky, or jagged and maddening.

Trying to stand out as a new disso-death band in a year in which Ulcerate release a new album is a major challenge, but Sarcophagum’s members have their share of pre-existing knowledge and experience from Golgothan Remains and other projects, and that maturity shines through on what is a very sound debut record.