Blessed Be My Brothers, the long-awaited second album from Sarpanitum, should be better than it is. That’s not to say it’s bad—in fact, it’s actually quite good. On their first full-length in almost eight years, the Birmingham, UK trio gives us a terrific, ten-song set of epic-sounding death metal with a really admirable display of intricacy and forward-thinkingness. So what’s holding it back?
Well, before we get into that, let’s talk about what Sarpanitum does well on the album—namely, their marvelous songwriting. Right off the bat, on “Komenos,” we see their versatility at work; here’s a band that plays death metal…kicking off their album with a song that sounds like it could be a power or symphonic metal tune—complete with crisp, melodically-inclined guitars and faint atmospheric flourishes in the background. Even when the album explodes into technical overdrive on the next track, (and most others here) that melodic side’s always present to add a new layer to what you might otherwise expect from the death metal subgenre.
Just when you think things couldn’t get any more chaotic—which you will often on Blessed Be My Brothers—a new song starts and sends things forward to dizzying new heights. Think Sarpanitum can’t possibly get any more epic than they are on “Truth?” Here’s “Glorification Upon the Powdered Bones of the Sundered Dead” to prove you wrong. Think “I Defy For I Am Free” will have the meatiest riffs on the album? Two songs later, “Malek al-Inkitar” pleads its case. Each song feels like it’s constantly on the ascent, unwrapping new harmonies, new riffs, and new plateaus at every turn.
So much so, in fact, that the album’s instrumental interludes end up becoming its most crucial inclusions. We get two of these on Blessed Be My Brothers, each shy of three minutes and each offering a refreshing chance to catch one’s breath amid a hurricane of noise. In particular, “Homeland,” actually manages to stand up on its own as one of the album’s highlights. While “Immortalised as Golden Spires” is certainly a welcome breather upon its arrival, it ends up merely dabbling in dark ambience and feeling a bit inconsequential—almost as if it’s there solely because it needs to be. “Homeland,” on the other hand, feels more vital—it brings back some of the folky-sounding atmospheric melodies that stood out in the early part of the album, and sets them over an acoustic, hand-drummed rhythm. It just feels natural—like a living, breathing entity that renews your energy leading into the final two tracks.
What’s the problem then? Even though Sarpanitum’s in a different subgenre, they struggle too often with the same issue that plagued Fallujah’s The Flesh Prevails last year—an uneven performance from behind the producer’s table. At times, it feels like the album has no sense of dynamics—or maybe hasn’t even heard of the term “dynamics” before—and the sound gets muddied and overwhelming. Which is a bit disappointing; the band spends the entire album demonstrating their mastery of technical, yet catchy riff-writing, only for much of the fruit of their labor to be lost in the storm.
Ultimately, though, this is a minor gripe. While the sonic issues may prevent it from becoming a truly excellent album, Blessed Be My Brothers still ranks as a solid listen, and one of the better death metal releases of the year so far. Here’s hoping album number three doesn’t take them quite so long.
Keep it heavy,
-Dan
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