Back at the dawn of the 1990s Canadian death/thrash metal trailblazers Sarkasm were making a name for themselves in the metal underground.
Four demos landed in quick succession, including ‘92s superb Inner Flame – but by ’94 the band were gone, seemingly destined to have burnt briefly but brightly, becoming a footnote in the annals of metal.
However, after reforming for occasional shows, in 2019 Sarkasm were back and signed to the dedicated and supportive Xtreem Music label. In 2023 Sarkasm’s full length debut album, As Empires Decay, finally arrived and the critical response was excellent. But Sarkasm are far from finished, with years of lost time to make up for and they’re now ready to unveil a second album, an album that sees them striding forwards and becoming ever more potent and powerful…prepare for Carnival Of Atrocities!
Opening track ‘I Am Chaos’ is an immediate statement of intent from the band, with vocalist Bruno Bernier (also a member of Obliveon) letting loose a mighty, earthshaking roar that rides in the slipstream of Simon Thibodeau’s brain shaking drums and the glorious riffs of guitar team François Dubuc and Yves Parent. All these stunning elements remain at the fore for album highlight ‘Murmurs From The Void’ and it’s with this track that the superb bass work of Dave Bouchard really makes its mark too. Each element of the Sarkasm strike force works in perfect harmony, with each instrument and Bernier’s distinctive voice managing to hold their own place in the spotlight, without the finely structured songs ever tipping over into chaos. It’s hard to define just what makes the Sarkasm sound so special…maybe it’s the deft balance between technicality and accessibility, or perhaps the sheer bludgeoning force of tracks like ‘Ex Umbris’ and ‘Deadweight’?
Possibly it’s the way that each note, each beat and word seems to be carefully considered and delivered with purpose – or just that Sarkasm follow different paths to other bands. Whatever the reason, with Carnival Of Atrocities, Sarkasm have delivered an album that stands tall amongst the surrounding pack, their blend of classic death and thrash sounds with modern muscle hits hard, leaving a bloody impression that lasts.The tremendous sound on Carnival Of Atrocities has been captured by the combined skills of producer Maxime Lacroix (Gastrorrexis etc) and mastering magician Dan Swanö (Asphyx, Avulsed, Incantation etc). When Xtreem Music unleash this beast on February 4th, on CD, vinyl and cassette formats, bones will break and heads will roll. This is technical, addictive, impactful extreme metal at its very best.