I think it’s safe to say that we all go into any given new year with a few albums already on our minds when we expect what greatness there will be for us to lose ourselves in, and already it’s clear that just in the first two months we’re going to be spoiled with albums of otherworldly quality. Given what I’ve already had the immense privilege of hearing, I was damn near convinced that there wouldn’t really be anything else that would make its way to my ears that would surprise me after dealing with massive releases from the likes of Obituary, Ahab, and plenty of others. Sarcoptes was a name that I’ve had a keen eye on for years now with my palette sufficiently teased for a new full-length from the act, but I don’t think any of us are ready for this absolute meal of an album. Where I thought just a few hours ago I heard the best I would hear for a while, Sarcoptes came upon me with what I’m already considering likely one of the best records that 2023 will throw our way. A bold claim, I know!

It’s one thing to have expectations, but to have them blown completely out of the water is what many of us reviewers live for! You can easily feel like you’ve damn near heard it all with there being long, extensive droughts where it can feel as though nothing truly ingenious comes around even if you’re swarming in quality, but an exceptional work is unlike anything else out there. We already knew that Sarcoptes was a more than decent act given their 2016 sensation, “Songs and Dances of Death”, with the teaser of “Plague Hymns” three years ago, but I really don’t think there is much that this band has done in the past that can readily prepare anyone for what has been summoned forth in these five tracks of mastery and devastation unbound. What has been conjured forth for “Prayers to Oblivion” cannot be considered as anything less than Sarcoptes’s magnum opus with it really showing us what this band is truly capable of with a no holds barred approach to their particular brand of black metal with an explosive tenacity and adventurous passion that leads them to fantastic new heights.

While “straightforward” is far from the word that I would use for Sarcoptes, holding this record up to the band’s previous efforts you see a stark difference and maturity to this new effort that has really enabled the album to blossom into a blindside of a record that offers us a brand new insight into what this band has always been capable of delivering while taking those few extra steps forward to complete that transformation. If “Plague Hymns” was a transitory piece in the band’s sound, all that is “Prayers to Oblivion” sees the band bursting forth with captivating power and unbelievable musicianship that leaves me picking my jaw up off the damn floor at every given turn. While never once fully abandoning their thrash tendencies, Sarcoptes leans ever so slightly away from the sound to pursue other avenues with the blistering speed that they’ve always been associated with even “Prayers to Oblivion” finds the act crafting their longest tracks to date such that these five tracks make for a total runtime of over a whopping fifty minutes! That makes this not just another creation of ambitious black metal, but a journey the likes of which there is no mere turning away from with Sarcoptes pursuing every opportunity to the fullest in order to make this record not just bombastic and fiery to the touch but fascinatingly intoxicating in even the smallest moments of the record with the opposite presenting to us like the black metal of gods from far off space.

I’m still picking my jaw off the floor even after losing myself in this creation for hours on end, and I present this to the entire rest of the underground as the bar to meet in 2023 should you want to be considered amongst the year’s best. Every single facet of this work is a lesson in mastery with the record as a whole being five testaments as to why Sarcoptes demands to be hailed as established masters of their sound that are not to be underestimated in any form whatsoever. “Prayers to Oblivion” is dynamic in every sense of the world and an absolute marvel to behold no matter what angle you’re approaching the work from, and I would challenge anyone to step forth before this excellence and not be moved by the album and all that it dares to bring forth in undeniable splendor.

“Prayers to Oblivion” releases on February 24th via Transcending Obscurity Records!

LISTEN to advanced tracks from “Prayers to Oblivion” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Sarcoptes on Facebook here.