Slagmark - Purging Sacred Soils (2020)

Unleashing a hellish debut release, today we have Germany’s Slagmark with “Purging Sacred Soils”. With a relentless Black Metal approach and featuring members of Sarkrista and Totenwache, this debut release is one of the most mature and devastating we have heard in 2020. For fans and purists of the old Black Metal flame, this release delivers over 30 minutes of ravaging brutality and intensity, not to be missed in any connoisseur's collection.

After setting an evil atmospheric opening with “Hexenhammer”, “Feeding the Urge to Destroy” pummels the listener with waves of harshness. The vocals are as hellish and punishing as they can get, while the musical structure is raw and direct, bringing out the hate and viciousness in the band’s musical approach. Not wasting any time, the album title track delivers a more tempered opening that transitions into all-out-war with the intense drumming and relentless guitar riffing.

The band separates the release in halves with the atmospheric opening of “Built on Bone Hills”, but make no mistake, they return even more vicious than before with crushing oppressive vocals and furious blast beats. There is a certain viciousness to the band’s combination of rawness and melody on tracks like “Eradication of all Terrestrial Ul” and the closer “Unleash our Brutish Wrath”, which shows versatility and conviction to deliver some of the most brutal music in the genre.

Overall, “Purging Sacred Soils” is one of those in your face releases that is full of violence and hate, exactly how Black Metal should be. If you are looking for grimm and frosty BM, Slagmark is one of those bands to keep an eye out for. Highly recommended for fans of bands like Horna, Sargeist, Behexen and similar.

Label: Purity Thorugh Fire

Release: April 30th, 2020

Genre: Black Metal

Country: Germany