Metal lifers who complain about kids today not going hard enough obviously need to plug their pie-holes with a healthy dose of Sarcator. The Swedish four-piece, whose ranks include the son of The Crown’s Marko Tervonen, are all still in high school, and yet they play the kind of savage death-thrash that most old-school fans live for. With their upcoming self-titled debut, Sarcator will instantly make a name for themselves in the underground — and will stand as a firm reminder that young metal fans will always be down to make music that sears the inside of your brain.
The band’s new video for their track “The Hour of Torment” takes the listener on a journey to an important part of their lives as metal fans. For old-timers (this writer included), the performance footage therein will take them back to their own memories of playing ripping thrash with a crew of friends in a hot, cramped room; for young heads, it’s proof that Sarcator are made up of dudes like them, and that picking up a guitar and unleashing pure sonic lightning on the world is always an option.
Before our exclusive premiere of their new video, we spoke to lead guitarist and vocalist Mateo Tervonen about how the band started, where they’re going, and whether or not he listens to his dad’s jams…
In your words, how did Sarcator come to be?
It all started out in 2014 at this music teaching school where me and Jesper [Rosén, drums] got to know each other playing in a Metallica cover ensemble. In 2017, Felix [Lindkvist, backing vocalist and bassist] joined and we started to play more extreme metal covers, like Slayer, Obituary and Death. But the year after, we hired a small rehearsal place where we started jamming on some riffs and ended up writing our first song, “Purgatory Unleashed.” After that, we decided to take things more seriously, and in that way created the band Sarcator.
What, in your mind, is the band’s purpose? Do you have a message you want to get across, or is it all about making heavy, fast shit?
There isn’t really a message in the traditional sense, where you get a bunch half-baked opinions shoved in your face. It is more about having an impact on someone so they might pick up a guitar or want to play drums or scream along in their bedroom, and for us, to be something more than just another record that collects dust.
What are you most excited for people to hear from Sarcator?
We hope that with our music we can share a good combination of the good old thrash past, but also with a modern touch to it. We are definitely not a retro-band, but we embrace the past.
You guys are still in high school — is it hard to balance school and the band?
In some ways yes, we usually have fixed rehearsal days so we can at least rehears once every week. And when we do that, we make a full day session, so we get shit done. So far, it works for everyone.
Your father is Marko Tervonen of Swedish death metal legends The Crown. Was there ever any pressure to make music that sounded like his band?
Not at all. There is no intention to make music that sounds like The Crown. Our goal is to create an own identity. When it comes to the bands, they are totally separated. It was just natural to write fast, extreme music.
Do you dig The Crown, or is that just your dad’s shit?
Sure, a lot of their songs are pretty great! That pushes me/us to make even better music!
Check out our exclusive premiere of Sarcator’s “The Hour of Torment” video below:
Sarcator’s self-titled debut drops October 30th from Redefining Darkness Records, and is available for preorder.
***
Words by Chris Krovatin
