German black metallers SARKRISTA hit the scene with their third full-length album in the tenth year of their career, with a mixture of influences that whilst feeling a little scattered in places has some genuinely interesting material to satisfy the more thoughtful blacker.

The album opens with (actually) a pretty epic orchestral track with backing chorus. There's an almost church-like motet feel to this, ironic given it's a black metal album! The intro fades seamlessly into the title-track, which informs the listener of precisely the kind of icy, nihilistic black metal we are to expect - at least it seems that way, but more on this later.

"Lair of Cursed Realms" is more of the same, indeed a little too similar to the opening track - there isn't really a whole lot to distinguish the two. It's not that it's a copy of the first track, but just more of the same. "Ablazing Ritual Torches" flirts with prog in places, mixing things up a bit to recapture the listener's attention. There's even a brush with post-black towards the end.

"The Chosen Ones of Satan" is a definite album highlight. What could scream black metal better than this song title? Some of the vocal snarls even have a "Cronos" feel about them - and who among us that love black metal doesn't love VENOM?! "Conjuring the Profane Fury" is another short but sweet blackened assault on the ears. If there's an issue here it's that several of the songs fail to stand out against one another, with little in the way of memorability.

"Destroyer of the Sun" is a really interesting track, and my favourite on the album. This is a full-blown experiment with a post-black sound that would be familiar to fans of bands like ELLENDE or NUMENORIAN. Think less icy nihilism and more melancholy introspection, complete with moody and mournful piano outro! For my money this is certainly the most engaging track here - with lots of twists and turns there's much to grab the listener's attention. Definitely worth a listen!

"The Beast Reborn" is almost disappointing when it comes, as you've come to expect more thoughtfulness in the wake of the previous track. There's clearly a degree to which these guys are aware of their surroundings in the contemporary black metal community - it's a genre-nerd's wet-dream at the moment - however, It might perhaps be best to stick to the middle of the road rather than trying to do absolutely everything. Make no mistake, this is decent stuff, but it could be really good if they pick a style and stick to it. "A Whisper From Forgotten Coffins" layers on a vaguely atmospheric feel - another example of perhaps trying to do too much. But I'll admit it's an arresting track, complete with synth outro that, whilst lasting over three minutes, is so good at achieving an eerie atmosphere you don't notice.

There's no doubt that this bears many of the classic hallmarks of early 90's Norwegian black metal - the 'kvlt' sound is definitely there. However, there are a lot of attempts to draw on other, more specific, genres. We get hints of post-black, prog, and even veering towards blackgaze in places. One gets the impression they're trying to have fingers in a bunch of pies, though not necessarily succeeding with every one. The production is very clean (perhaps too clean to be trvly kvlt? I jest!) yet bears all the hallmarks you would expect from a black metal record.

When all is said and done this is definitely worth listening to. Whilst undoubtedly there's a feeling of a band trying to decide exactly where they're going, what is here is done well and with irrefutable competence and enthusiasm. I'm curious and excited to see what comes of these gents in the future.