Sarasin – Sarasin (Album Review)

Hamilton, Ontario’s Sarasin are a heavy metal band of the relatively traditional sense. They set out to make straight-ahead music with no tricks and no innovations, but rather take formulas previously used by some of the best metal bands of all time and create new musical ideas with it. Their self-titled album is evidence of this metal mindset with elements of classic metal and thrash metal.

Sarasin succeed at not sounding like anyone but themselves for the most part. The song “Now” tends to sound familiar but I can’t place why. Not to take credit away from how good the song sounds, of course. In fact, it’s a true standout song on Sarasin‘s self-titled album but there are plenty of other songs that sound much more original. Perhaps most importantly, these songs differ from one another quite well. The only constant is the heavy metal attitude.

Sarasin‘s opening track “The Hammer” drives hard with a heavy hitting attitude that I love. The opening riff to “Forevermore” is very NWOBHM, and the song that follows isn’t much different from those underappreciated 80’s metal bands like Angel Witch and Saxon. The song is impressively written and constructed, which is a distinction of most other songs on the album. “Live To See The Glory” immediately comes to mind with its changes in pace. Sarasin‘s song structuring capabilities aren’t limited to their ability to change sections in a song the way “Live To See The Glory” does. “In Our Image” is a perfect example of a song that can rock hard the whole way through while still sounding like a truckload of thought went into the writing process.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rqq7cECcfMQ[/embedyt]

My opinion on Sarasin‘s self-titled album differs each time I listen to it. Sometimes the great guitar riffs like the one in “Enemy Within” hit me differently, sometimes the odd slight missed beat stands out more than other times, but one thing that is constant – from the opening smash of “The Hammer” to the closing slow alternative metal sounding “Wake Up” – is the thought that for a metal album that doesn’t bring anything completely new to the table, Sarasin deliver some great heavy metal songs that make up a great heavy metal album.

Thanks for reading!

Sarasin are on Facebook and Twitter

You can also get Sarasin‘s self-titled album by clicking here.

ALBUM HIGHLIGHT

“Forevermore” –­ I think the best part of the track is that it just has guitar riff after guitar riff. Such is the case for many of Sarasin‘s songs, but not the way the band brings their A game on “Forevermore” with every riff and every change.

FINAL RATING

7 (Out of 10)

Track List: