“As Northern Gates Opens” opens the album and I was hooked right away by the coldness of the tremolo picked harmonies. Morninghoul was mixed and mastered by Lawrence Mackory, vocalist of Darkane. “Lifelike Sleep” comes up next and full of minor third harmony runs and pinch harmonics. I love the production. It sounds like this could have come out in the early nineties. The vocals of Heval Bozarslan pair well with the guitar work of Anders Eriksson and Peter Laitinen.

“Withered Souls We Mourn” is one of the heaviest songs on the album and then the marching feel of the verse is unique. “Dying Embers of Solitude” reminds me of a bit of Dissection before the song picks up tempo. “A Lucid Dream in The Paradigm Stream” is another notable example of mixing the traditional Swedish sound with heaviness and melody. This track has a nice female vocal break towards the end of the song. The drum work of Jesper Ojala rules throughout the whole album.

“No Solace from Above” opens with a piano instrumental that segues into the piano with an acoustic guitar. The way this song starts you would think Sarcasm was a doom band. “Absence of Reality’ is a nice fierce way to find up the album. The way the track ends reminds me a little bit of Hypocrisy Arrival.

For eight songs and forty-two minutes, these guys do an excellent job keeping the album flowing with their unique approach to Swedish Death. This album is fun to listen to. The contrast in Swedish sounding parts and the tinges of lower-end heaviness is a cool mix.  This one gets a big recommendation from yours truly. Enjoy.

Within starts off with “Bloodsoaked Sunrise” which opens with layered guitar harmonies into a triplet groove section with excellent drum work done by Matte Modin (Ex Dark Funeral). Production wise all of the instruments are even in the mix and this may be one of the best melodic death metal efforts that we get all year.  This is definitely a no nonsense return to the sound of late nineties Swedish metal. “Embodiment of Source” has a fantastic acoustic guitar intro that builds into excellent layered guitar work by Peter Latinen and Anders Eriksson. This particular track ends with a bit of a middle-eastern flavor. “Scars of a Land Forgotten” maybe the most aggressive track and does an excellent job of varying the overall tempo of the album as the first three songs feel a bit more mid paced.  I must say that it is too bad that these guys wouldn’t have gotten the right breaks back in 1994 because it would be interesting to see where they would be at now catalog wise.

“In The Grip of Awakening Times” has the best contrast on the album going from a slower build intro into an aggressive thrashier section which reminds me of older Skydancer Era Dark Tranquillity. If you are into this style of Swedish metal then I would say that it is very well done and varied. I like that the production doesn’t feel overly modern but more so sounds like it came from a past era. “A Black Veil for Earth” opens with another acoustic intro sounds like a twelve string following by an additional guitar accompaniment added melody which builds for about two minutes and rests before the guitars come in distorted with almost a funeral doom like feel.  At over eight minutes this might be the most ambitious of the tracks on within.  The vocals are a bit more guttural on this one. Creating a bit of a different feel from the other tracks. Same type of melodic elements just a completely different speed and vocal feel.

Closing with “The Drowning Light at the Edge of the Dawn” is back to the more up-tempo thrashy feel that a majority of this album has. Overall, Sarcasm is a unique throwback to a sound that they never really lost. This is a solid release start to finish and in a catalog that continues to seemingly grow by the second Sarcasm are not a group to forget about on the Dark Descent roster. Highly recommended!