Sadistik Forest – “Morbid Majesties” [Album Review]

Finland is about as synonymous with extreme metal as it is with forests, so Sadistik Forest’s name and savage death metal sound should come as no shock. Morbid Majesties is the band’s third full-length record and it pulls no punches, effortlessly devastating a lot of ground in a short amount of time.

Fans of old-school death metal and the more modern-minded of us will have plenty to shout about in Morbid Majesties, which is brutal right from the off. “The Hour of Dread”, “Monsters of Death” and “Morbidly Majestic” round out a record that spits and snarls with a vicious grin, expertly mixing phenomenal pace with chunky licks and riffs. The album rampages towards you and you have nowhere to run – you might as well take in the gloriously violent ride.

And what a ride it is. Wickedly quick drums fill out a sound that prides itself in monstrous riffs and a healthy balance of death metal’s finest growls, snorts, and screams. What we have here is a non-stop barrage of top-notch death metal stylings that brings to mind the likes of Behemoth and Vader. “The Maelstrom Opens”, for example, is a barnstormer that builds itself around some superbly brutal drumming and a rolling bassline before climaxing with a terrific, atmospheric guitar solo. The chunkier side and dizzying pace of death metal are both accounted for in spades, but what of the more melodic side of this demonic spectrum?

Get your head thrown about with the song “Destructive Art”.

The majestic, nine-minute epic “Bones of a Giant” answers this question. The riffs brim with a dark atmosphere and cunning that isn’t present in the rest of the album. Unimaginable terrors await in this track, with deeper growls than you’ve likely heard before. It’s a big, powerful track that shows a slice of progressive writing thanks to its climactic, brisk ending compared to the overwhelming power of its earlier moments. “Bones of a Giant” is a huge track, and it provides the perfect ending to a tremendous death metal record, incorporating elements we’ve heard leading up to this point while also adding another layer of songwriting prowess to the band’s already vicious sound.

At around 35 minutes long, Sadistik Forest don’t give themselves very long to leave a lasting impression with Morbid Majesties but leave an impression they do. This beastly offering provides exactly what any death metal fan surely craves – aggression, power and blistering pace. Every inch of death metal’s ground is covered with an effortless snarl and bite that will have you headbanging long into the night.

Morbid Majesties Track List:

01. Morbidly Majestic
02. Decades of Torment Then Death
03. The Hour of Dread
04. Destructive Art
05. Zero Progress
06. Monsters of Death
07. The Maelstrom Opens
08. Bones of a Giant

Run Time: 34:51
Release Date: May 25, 2018
Record Label: Transcending Obscurity Records

Stream the entire album here, kicking off “Decades of Torment Then Death”.