EP REVIEW: Obscure Old Remains – Sadistik Forest

SADISTIK FOREST are one of the many hidden gems within Finland’s excellent underground scene that are sadly often overlooked. The band’s sound, which has one foot very firmly planted within old school death metal with a generous dose of thrash, is classic, and has worked extremely well for them over the years, with three albums and a split with Russian death metallers SEPTORY serving as an exceptionally solid body of work in its own right. Their new EP, Obscure Old Remains, is another great slab of death metal that sees the band’s sound become if anything even more tight and aggressive than it was previously.

Mandragore is a great opening track, with punishing drums and a groove-laden yet tight guitar playing style that couples chunky rhythms and meaty basslines with some jarring, chaotic flourishes that work extremely well. The equally caustic approach of the vocals provides a harsh, acidic edge to proceedings, adding a sharper contrast to the denser guitar and bass work. Barbarian, likewise, has lots of weighty guitar and bass hooks that are firmly rooted within a classic death metal sound, with a little bit of thrash thrown in for good measure. Its slower, brooding pace and darker melodic touches give this song a distinctly bleaker feel than the album’s opener, without losing any of the intensity that made the preceding track so impressive.

Nihil brings back the subtle discordance within the guitar sound, peppering some more cacophonous moments in amongst what is initially a solid and fairly straight forward slab of death metal, before launching into a far more monstrous and powerful effort driven by juggernaut drumming later on. The vocals are at their most varied so far, shifting from coarse, howling highs to throaty gutturals as the song progresses, matching the ferocity of the music as needed, resulting in one of the more interesting offerings on the record.

Waters Black, with its morose, doom-laden guitars and significantly more robust rhythmic style, is a fantastic piece of primitive, muscular death metal that manages to be incredibly punchy and catchy in spite of its more minimalistic riffs and equally spartan vocals. It’s one of those kinds of songs that every death metal act has in their arsenal, the kinds that’s guaranteed to garner a solid reaction because, rather than in spite of, it being so primal, with thick, chugging hooks and a marching beat making it all the more appealing.

For many bands, an EP is essentially a throwaway release that either allows a band to keep their audience interested or put out some of the music that was left over from the recording sessions for their most recent album. It’s rare for an EP to make a significant impact, or feature any significant music. With Obscure Old Remains, this is definitely not the case. The more polished production, coupled with the more adventurous but still distinctively old school approach to the song-writing makes each of the four songs featured on here stand out for all the right reasons, from the monstrously catchy Mandragore to the dramatic and funereal Waters Black.

Rather than presenting listeners with their cast offs, SADISTIK FOREST have used this EP to showcase what is arguably some of their leanest and most effective music to date, boasting all the core tricks that any fantastic death metal act should have in their arsenal, without imitating what many other underground acts are doing at the moment.

Rating: 8/10

Obscure Old Remains is out now via Transcending Obscurity Records.

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