Sacred Son - Sacred Son (2017)

Hilarious cover art vs Serious black metal
100%

I will start this review with a honest observation from my part.

The cover art of this album is quite something different. When I saw this, I though it was a meme. Then I saw this in the black metal hipster channel, where they made fun of this. But since they aren't a credible channel for music review (considering the hate that is around both Myrkur and Deafheaven, such hate highly promoted by them), I went to the guy's bandcamp and gave a listen.

Boy was I blown away.

This record starts hard and fast, with "Cleave the Alicorn" blasting away. It is quite fast tempo, and the heavily distortion and reverb gives the whole sound scape a unique character. I also love the vocals. They invoque a particular pain that goes in great contrast with the album cover, since he looks so chilled and smiling. Perhaps that's the gimmick.

The second track keeps up the same pounding rhythm, until it slows down to Eternal Light (interlude), where this is basically a bridge that prepares us to the full blast of darkness that is the track "Sepulchral Ritual". This track is the best in the album for me, from the build up, to the more slower closure. It just encapsules a whole batch of negative thoughts and emotions. The demo, though good in it's own right, it just breaks the whole atmosphere that the album build til now, but since it is considered an extra track, I let this slide.

The album as a whole is absolutely colossal. The feel is right, the tone, the screams, the despair. It is quite antagonistic to what happens in the cover art, that aside from the logo that may give away what's happening here, this could be a deathcore album. But no. It is a solid ambient/depressive black metal act that is as vicious as it can be.

One final though regarding the cover art, once again. In it's ridiculousness, the cover is brilliant in it's own right, by either being a tongue in cheek joke that aims to trigger the "trve kvltists" that are in the black metal scene, or perhaps it is something deeper than that. Perhaps it is something that may work as an artistic form of manifesting the concept of depression, where on the outside you may see some dude smiling on his summer vacation, but deep inside, a turmoil of dark toughs and emotions erupting in an uncontrollable vortex. 

All and all, this is absolutely brilliant.

Band related links:

https://sacredson.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/sacredsonmusic/