SARGEIST Tyranny Returns CD (2004)

Finland doesn't get enough credit for its contribution to black metal. While Norway was busy being photographed in corpsepaint outside burning churches, Finnish acts like Sargeist were quietly building some of the most hateful, atmospheric records the genre has ever produced.

Tyranny Returns is Sargeist's 2004 full-length debut on Behexen's Visited label, featuring Shatraug, who at this point was also splitting his time between Horna and several other Finnish black metal projects, because apparently sleeping is for other people. The result is raw, mid-paced black metal that leans on riff repetition and darkness rather than production sheen, deeply indebted to the early Norwegian scene but with its own cold, Finnish character. It sits comfortably alongside the better-known Finnish black metal catalogue and holds up well twenty years on.

Format: CD, full-length album. Country of origin: Finland. Genre: Black Metal. Released 2004.

Fans of: Funeral Mist, Azaghal, Horna, 1349, early Mayhem.