Sahg - III (2010)

Back sometime in mid-2008 I was introduced to Norwegian stoner/doom metal group, Sahg, though their second album, 'II.' By the albums conclusion I can recall just sitting here with a huge grin on my face and thinking, "Damn... this is massive! This kicks ass!" Not long after I got my hands on their first album, 'I' and by that albums conclusion I'd already considered Sahg a new personal favorite of mine. 'III' came out about a year ago but as usual the album was not released in America and I didn't get my hands on the album until my recent over seas voyage.

III carries on in Sahg's distinctive style, which in my eyes shows influences from some of the best, such as; Ozzy-era Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Trouble, St. Vitus, Spiritual Beggars and Cathedral. Although Sahg does fall into the doom genre they generally avoid ultra slow heaviness in favor of catchy verses, superb song writing, stunning guitar solos and just plain simply rocking out as hard as possible. Olav Iversen and Thomas Tofthagen have a heavy crunchy tone to their guitars that I absolutely love, while Tom Cato Visnes' bass is vibrant and alive throughout the whole recording, the drum work of new member Thomas Lønnheim is spot on and Olav's lead vocal work is quite simply immaculate. Also not forget that there are also a few points where prog styled keyboards makes their appearance and although they are brief they are well placed and a perfect addition to Sahg's music.

'In through the fire' kicks the recording off as a simple and short acoustic piece, which then dives headlong into the thumping head banging rockin' anthem known as, 'Baptism of Fire.' It just gets better though as, 'Mortify' starts out with something of a sinister vibe, but then just explodes with beefy energetic stoner bliss. Other super songs are, 'Hollow Mountain' or 'Downward Spiral' with one of the coolest solos I've heard in ages and, 'Denier' has already become a modern favorite of mine, just simply incredible! The guys are also capable of throwing in some slower doomy atmospheric songs like, 'Mother's Revenge,' 'Shadow Mountain' and the albums bleak closer, 'Spiritual Void,' though I still prefer the heavy energetic rockin' numbers over these three. I also have to mention that the lyrics are another quality of perfection within this album, especially, 'Denier,' but damn it all Olav writes some good words to these songs.

Ten songs strong and I find very little fault within this recording. At 42 minutes strong all guitars, leads, musical shifts and vocals are a point of dynamic excellence not easily out bested. Years from now fans of the genre will include Sahg among their all-time favorites, they'll tour the world and become giants, kids will want to grow up to be them and within the sky the bands name will luminously shine infinitely while they rock harder than hell and bring heaven to its knees!

Yes, what I'm trying to say is, "SAHG III is just fucking colossal!"