SARKE is a band from Norway which was formed as a colaborative project between a few accomplished musicians, Nocturno Culto of DARKTHRONE fame being the most prominent one, but there are two members of the outstanding Black Metal band KHOLD (one of whom calls himself Sarke, so the band might be named after him for all I know). The guitarist Steinar Gundersen has been in a legendary, but short lived progressive band SPIRAL ARCITECT and works with ICS Vortex and SATYRICON. I have to admit that I haven't paid much attention to them in the past - what I've heard from sounded to me like run of the mill Blackened Thrash, I've sensed some unique flavor, but I just wasn't fully convinced. But I might go back through their catalogue, because I love what they did on "Gastwerso".

The album is short and sweet - eight songs that are often on the shorter side and total play time of 34 minutes -, it is well-rounded and the sound is quite unique. It can't be simply put into a genre category: there are rumbling, pretty "basic" Metal riffs, which sometimes have a first wave of Black Metal thrashy aggression, but the music is also synth-driven, and this combination of simple, repetitive riffs and driving synths can give the music a bit of an Industrial undertone similar to Industrial Metal bands like SAMAEL. I would describe the music as equally guitar driven and atmospheric, the synths give the songs often a "trippy" or vibe, there are also dreamy mid-tempo songs and even a ballad sounds to me almost like something out of a Nick Cave record. As I've noted already, the riffs and synth lines are all rather straightforward, but everything comes so well together - the songs have a great drive and there is no excess fat on them.

"Ghost War" shifts between groovy parts with a basic chugging guitar riff and a simple, driving synth riff and fast parts with a thrashy CELTIC FROST guitar riff backed by eerie synths. There is a nice tremolo picked - very Black Metal sounding -  guitar lead that precedes a neat solo. "Mausoleum" is a mid-tempo synth-driven song. The verse has a shrill, driving synth riff, the chorus is dreamy and melancholic, there is an instrumental section at the end of the song with a soaring, high pitched synth line. "The Endless Wait" is a ballad: it's smooth and melancholic, Nocturno Culto recites his lines in an almost lethargic way, but the song goes into high gear in a climactic part with beautiful, soaring female vocals. This soft ballad is followed by a the bitter and angry "Ties of Blood", "In the Flames" has a subdued, somber verse with a eerie clean guitar riff, the chorus, on the other hand, is rather thunderous, the rumbling guitar is backed by dramatic synth harmonies.

I'm very pleasantly surprised by this release, the band has found a really unique sound (maybe they have achieved that before, but I can't speak to that), the songs are very well written and I love how multifaceted this album is. One thing that also stands out to me are the lyrics which are a strange mix of introspective, personal and surrealist or symbolist. The lyrics are poetic and memorable which adds to the uniqueness of SARKE's music. I'll be jamming "Gastwerso" in the coming weeks for sure. This album is a bit of a wild card for my top 10 end of the year's list.