Cyberian Inner Death

I'll be the first to admit that Armath Sargon's previous releases have done absolutely nothing for me. Most of it sounds like if Rammstein decided to take up playing black metal - honestly, one listen to "Die Hexen Ist Tott" off the first album "Veripolku" was enough to pretty much turn me of the band entirely. That said, when I first heard some of the tracks of this newest release, I was almost blown out of my seat.

What a welcome change! Of course, fans of Armath Sargon will recognize the keyboard flirtations, the chunky guitars, and the typical elements of the band, but suddenly it's as though Sargon himself has actually decided to churn out some actual black metal here. It's progressive-ish, it has many symphonic/modern elements, but the riffing is quite traditional, and Sargon's vocals have suddenly taken a massive turn for the better.

Here, Sargon has a sort of white-noise laden electronic shriek going on that completely suits the music. After a short intro piece, he lets loose with "Death of Inner Self", a ripping black metal track reminiscent of Dying Blaze if it had a few modern touches to it. The drumming is perfect for this kind of music, pulsing away in the background and flowing along, carrying the industrial-tinged yet traditional sounding black metal along with it. The riffing on "Caressing (of the Spirit)" is especially powerful. I cannot believe how this one-man band seems to have just suddenly woken up one morning and decided to absolutely rock - this is bizarre. The whole of the album continues in a similar vein with melodic riffing, pulsating drums, and Sargon's now ferocious vocals, with minor key-touches throughout that actually fit in with the sound instead of overwhelm it.

This is great stuff - if you weren't a fan of this band before, I would gently urge you to check this release out. It's a major step in a new and better direction.