Sarcoma Inc. - Psychopathology LP

Daemon is my favourite black metal vocalist. Limbonic Art is my favourite black metal band. I will try to avoid bias with this review. For those who haven't heard anything by this obscure band (I determined they're obscure because I've only met one other person who's heard them!), this is Daemon's VERY black thrash metal band. In fact, it is much more black than thrash. Daemon also uses a few different vocal styles than his palette in Limbonic Art, though there are similarities. Perhaps if one wanted to draw a similarity, one would say first album Zyklon, with much better riffs. There isn't much Limbonic Art here, aside from the vocals.

Sarcoma Inc's first album was harsh and thrashing, almost entirely fast. With quite juvenile lyrics. The second album was more of a "wall of sound" release, with fewer stand out riffs; quite a bit darker than the first. Also rippingly fast. With "Pyschopathology", these elements are combined, as well as a new setting on the speed knob: slower. There are many, many, many stand out riffs on this album, as well as much more dramatic arrangements which approach the genius of Limbonic Art, but still are not similar. On this, one CAN hear a bit of LA, and can hypothesize "well, if they made this slight change, it would sound like Limbonic..." The songs, for the most part, are very satisfying and in many cases memorable.

Sound-wise, this achieves a near perfect crunch, a barrage of razor-sharp riffing and destructive drumming. Daemon's vocals are perfectly in the mix, and sound as wicked as ever. There are even some nice guitar-solo parts on here, usually working as part of the song rather than some wanker showing off. Interesting enough to be mentioned, that's for sure. The production is exactly as clear as such punishing music needs, retaining a bit of rawness and filth, while enabling the drums and the guitars to rip unsuspecting human sheep to shreds of twitching meat.

This album boasts the most memorable songs of Sarcoma Inc.'s catalogue, perhaps the 2 songs "Like a Black Shadow of Creeping Death" and "I'll Spit On Your Grave" summing up the album's feeling. There are really very few low-points, one being "Suicidal Death" which is as generic as the name, and becomes actually annoying as Daemon gurgles, "Suicidal....suicidal..." way too many times. Also, as he is known for, is an "ambient" passage, which is thankfully quite short ("A Hellish Intermezzo"); another instrumental is "Serenade", which is actually pretty cool. I will admit that at an hour and 10 minutes, the album seems a bit long, but is interspersed with enough action to keep one's interest. One problem I noticed is that some songs, even some of the really great ones, tend to repeat themselves too much, and would have benefited greatly from a bit of self-editing. On the other hand, if you really like the song, it's more of a good thing! The lyrics aren't as juvenile (by juvenile, I mean swearing like a pantera-worshiping mongoloid way more than needed) as previous efforts, but do not reach the artistic creepiness of Limbonic Art. This is very hateful, vicious sentiment, especially in "I'll Spit On Your Grave" and "Torment Rides Forever"...and in these cases, the profanity fits and works. One can see the former becoming an "anthem" amongst the black metal crowd ...much the same way as "Rock and Roll All Night" is an anthem amongst humans!

Sarcoma Inc.'s material is not at all easy to get hold of. Please don't let any negatives above dissuade you from seeking them out; after all, my score of 94% is actual, not biased. This album is, indeed, that ripping and excellent; either of their others would serve to give listeners a good taste of what they can accomplish, as well. I can't see any fan of Limbonic Art or Daemon-era Zyklon disliking this, either. Far more savage than either of those, this remains as some kind of throw-back to the late 80's, mutated by hatred and ability into a modern piece of brilliance.