The first two words of the promo sheet had their intended effect on me – new Sargeist – nothing else needed to be said. In fact, and this is rare in the world of Metal Reviews, we had as many as three reviewers coming out wishing to review Feeding the Crawling Shadows. I guess the black melodic majesty called Let the Devil In, bookended by a pair of awesome tracks Empire of Suffering and As Darkness Tears the World Apart, had something to do with it.

I am going to keep the suspense short and say that while no Let the Devil In Feeding the Crawling Shadows is an excellent album in its own right. Sargeist may have made a very conscious attempt to have their latest album sound less polished and rawer. The opening title track is denser, apocalyptic, with drums thudding and slamming along beneath the surface of trademark endless guitars. Given that Hoath Torog added lower frequency, breathing, spoken proclamations for vocals, something I do not remember from Let the Devil In, Feeding the Crawling Shadows, the song, has a complete ritualistic effect. There are a few other sidesteps on the latest album. The Unspoken Ones bends the notes, creating an alarming and disturbing feel, above a good deal of blast and punk beat. Inside the Demon’s Maze is slower in spots, with cold guitar wind just tingling the skin off before hypothermia is about to set in, and blends into Kingdom Below.

Yet many of the songs on Feeding the Crawling Shadows are exactly the direct melodic punches into blackened heart we have come to expect from Sargeist. In Charnel Darkness and Funerary Descent are based on these right-here-right-now, in your face melodies, the swirling statement of Funerary Descent and the folk overtone of In Charnel Darkness completely hypnotizing. While Return of the Rats is short and triumphant, Sargeist make their dripping sadness state of the art with The Shunned Angel and Snares of Impurity, minor reverberating notes and that preachy voice mesmerizing again. In fact, on Feeding the Crawling Shadows Sargeist manages to be one half ritualistic, one half pagan, at some point reminding me of Windir on 1184, weaving in a tragic hymnical moment (Snares of Impurity).

One could say that with Feeding the Crawling Shadows Sargeist broke no new ground. However, this is precisely the shtick the band excels at. For all of their obviousness and on the surface riff simplicity the band easily manages to have you love the album from start to finish, giving it all in the process and making you belong to them for the all-too-brief 48 minutes. No standout songs, outright gems like Empire of Suffering, but full immersion into Sargeist world is guaranteed on Feeding the Crawling Shadows and the dedicated fans will have no reasons to regret the acquisition of this album.