The Sarke Aruagint (Clear Vinyl) vinyl collects the Norwegian supergroup’s third album in a pressing limited to 200 copies on crystal clear vinyl with gatefold packaging, bringing together some of the most respected names from the Norwegian black metal scene for another round of raw blackened thrash built directly in the tradition of Celtic Frost and Hellhammer.
Sarke Aruagint (Clear Vinyl) Vinyl: The Band and Its Lineage
Sarke formed in 2008 and drew their lineup from the deeper roster of the Norwegian black metal world. The band includes Sarke on bass, Cyrus on guitars, Anders Hunstad on keyboards, and Asgeir Mickelson on drums. Nocturno Culto of Darkthrone handles vocals, and that credit carries substantial weight: Nocturno Culto is one of the central figures in the history of Norwegian black metal, and his participation in Sarke gives the project a direct connection to that lineage rather than a secondhand relationship with it. Aruagint is the third full-length, and it continues the direction established on the first two records without retreating from the formula or softening the approach. Raw blackened thrash metal in the tradition of Celtic Frost and Hellhammer: the influence of those bands is acknowledged explicitly and pursued deliberately. This is music made by people who came up absorbing what made those records function as they do, and then building their own version rather than simply paying tribute. The distinction between those two approaches is audible. Aruagint doesn’t sound like a tribute band. It sounds like musicians who understand the tradition from the inside and are working within it on their own terms.
The Clear Vinyl Pressing
Black Sleeves pressed Aruagint in two formats: 300 copies on black vinyl and 200 copies on crystal clear. This is the clear pressing, which makes it the rarer of the two and the one serious collectors reach for. The 140-gram pressing with gatefold jacket gives the physical object the presentation that a band of this combined pedigree deserves. Two hundred copies of a third Sarke album with Nocturno Culto on vocals, limited to crystal clear vinyl with gatefold packaging, in the tradition of Celtic Frost and Hellhammer: for collectors of Norwegian black metal and its extended family, the combination speaks for itself.
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