Released in early November, Opposition To Life is the latest EP from Yorkshire Black Metallers Sathamel. If you like your Black Metal with a visceral edge, then this 21-minute five-track release may be one for you to check out.
Sathamel – Opposition To Life
Release Date: Out Now
Words: Paul Hutchings
Having been in action for over a decade, 2024 saw the band’s profile rise with a successful appearance on the New Blood Stage at Bloodstock Festival. Possibly the culmination of years of perseverance, it was certainly a set that exorcised the ghosts of the pandemic, a time which saw the band head into a period of hibernation.
Thankfully, there is plenty of Yorkshire spirit within this band, and as Opposition To Life proves, they are very much alive and kicking.
I have read comparisons of the band’s sound presenting as a heady mix of Behemoth and Bolt Thrower, and one cannot really argue with that definition. Opening track Take The Rot, one of three on this release already known to fans, certainly channels the Polish Black Metal masters with an imperious onslaught that melts flesh.
But listen closely and you will hear the layered approach with relentlessly intricate guitar work weaving beneath the aural cacophony that rages above. Unsurprisingly, there are brutal passages of blast beats and gruff vocals that threaten to crush bone. An intensive experience, it is an opener that certainly sets the stall out in a bruising and aggressive style.
The new tracks here are the second song O, War and the concluding title track. They are the two longest songs here, between them combining to over half the time of the EP.
That does not make them any less impactful, with O, War highlighting vocalist Daniel Kalinowski’s abrasive, growling delivery as one of the key weapons in the Sathamel arsenal. His barking vocals will not be to everyone’s tastes, especially when he slips into an even more demonical style. But it fits with the carnage erupting around him.
A savagely corrosive track, it also highlights the pace and power of drummer Michael Robinson, one of three members who have joined the band in the past year. Massive double-kick beats dominate this and other tracks.
Perennial Flock and Ad Nauseam maintain the impressive onslaught, sparing nothing in terms of jagged guitars and powerful drumming which tightly links in with bassist Dale Brown. Robinson’s drumming is strong, aggressive and unrelenting.
We must not ignore the dual guitar work of founder Nathan Caven and new man Pat Cotter, for their shredding work is integral to the sheer wall of extremity that unfolds.
It may only be 21 minutes in length, but this is one mighty punch to the solar plexus from start to finish.
Opposition To Life ends in true epic style, walls of riffs cascading down amidst Robinson and Brown’s rock-solid engine room support. That leaves Kalinowski to rage his way through the song, which he does, his bark as raw at the end as it was at the start.
Sathamel exist in a world where saturation is inevitable. Does Opposition To Life have the necessary to push on? The signs would suggest so, for there is massive potential here.
It may require some minor refinement, but overall, Sathamel’s latest offering suggests the future may be brighter than the past. We shall see.
You find Sathamel on Bandcamp here.
