Rushonrock Red Hot Track Of The Week: Sahg

Track

Born Demon

Artist

Sahg

Sahg backstory

Entering the Norwegian metal scene in 2006 as a classic doom band was a gamble for Sahg.

Black metal was still the big thing coming out of Norway and there was little space for bands celebrating fluffy subgenres.

Even with Gorgoroth members King ov Hell and Kvitrafn in the line-up — adding a touch of blackness — Sahg had it all to do.

But the band took the heavy music scene by storm with their blistering, chart-breaking debut Sahg I.

During the next decade Sahg released five critically acclaimed albums and played tours and festivals across Europe, the United States and Asia.

Supporting Motörhead, W.A.S.P., Opeth, Clutch, Satyricon, Dimmu Borgir, Enslaved and more won the band an army of new fans.

And the bastard sons of Black Sabbath, Motörhead, Pentagram and Judas Priest continue to push vintage doom’s endless boundaries.

In Sahg frontman Olav Iversen’s own words:

“We chose Born Demon as the title track, and to release it as a single, because it is one of the heaviest tracks on the record.

“It tells something about the overall theme on the album.

“About how all human beings have their demons.

“Everyone has an evil side, dark powers which are hard to control and which sometimes go out of control, and make us do bad things to ourselves and to others.

“Every one of us is born with a dark side, and everyone is Born Demon.

“The lyrics are about the newborn child of a woman and a demon.

“The mother is in deep shame and deeply regrets her mistake with the evil seducer.

“She doesn’t want the child and plans to leave the newborn deep in the forest to die.

“But the child uses its demonic powers to get back at her in the most gruesome way.”

The verdict on Born Demon

Brooding, occasionally brutal, but thought-provoking metal from masters of their craft.

This is three-and-a-half minutes of doom-laden, foreboding heaviness par excellence.

Paired with a mind-bending lyric video (think Black Sabbath meets Stranger Things), Born Demon ramps up the expectation ahead of this autumn’s album drop.

Chugging, chastening riffs battle for supremacy in an angst-ridden war of attrition with Olav Iversen’s Ozzy-esque vocals.

Disturbing lyrics meet devilish musicianship head on.

And the result is a feast for the metal-loving senses as Sahg subtly expose their black metal roots within a dense forest of gnarled doom.

Beautifully bleak and brilliantly moody.