Sauron

The Channeling Void

Carnal Records 2007
 

Not to be confused with the equally killer blackened thrash metal band from Detroit with the same evil moniker, these blasting black metal destroyers, Sauron come from the Netherlands.  Know my Word is His starts off in a mid-tempo, almost calm sort of way and then changes gears and unleashes its hellbent fury.  This is sort of a hallmark for the Channeling Void as it virtually never slows down as the band blasts its way through the album.  There are a few slower parts but they always return quickly to the hellish typhoon of metal shrapnel that shreds all living flesh with its intensity such as in Council of the Impious (Vicarius Filii Dei).  With that said Sauron is not what I would call a "war" metal type of band as it is not nearly as brutal and chaotic but has a colder temperament that has more in common with the Nordic bands.  Also Sauron has managed to bring some near melodic passages to the surface which add another dimension to the barrage of impacting artillery riffs assaulting the unsuspecting listeners with the most memorable example occurring at slower tempos in the middle stages of 7 before continuing on at a much higher velocity to close out the track.  My favorite song is Crowning the Swarm as I really like the way the main riff kid of shifts and has a distorted and disoriented feel to it.  The production has added an ample layer of fuzz and distortion to the guitars and cymbals that enhances the inhumanity on display with the Channeling Void.  I am immediately transfixed by the paradoxically beautiful and subtlety terror inducing cover art that blends death and geometry into one symbiotic emblem of fear.  Sauron paints a horrifying image of a devastated landscape through its use of obliterating riffs and merciless drums.  Life has no meaning here for me.  The music is so furiously ripping that it creates a nearly exhausting and claustrophobic atmosphere with its unrelenting hyper-hostility.  Sauron are lords of black metal uniting shadowed armies of undead legions to rise against the armies of the white light, just like their namesake from the Lord of the Rings classics.  They wear this cloak of darkness and destruction well.