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Sad - Fullmoon’s Bestial Awakening
Out now via @PurityThroughFire Nearly twenty years into their existence, Greece’s @Sad show no sign of softening their assault. Fullmoon’s Bestial Awakening, their ninth album and third with Purity Through Fire, reinforces everything the band has stood for since 2005, unrelenting, orthodox black metal devoid of compromise or modern varnish. Multi instrumentalist Ungod and vocalist Nadir again summon the frostbitten spirit of the late ’90s underground, filtering it through their own instinct for repetition, hypnosis, and controlled violence.
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The record opens with “Rampage,” a suitable declaration of intent. Furious, direct, stripped of melody. “Raison d’être” and “Fury Long Lost” sustain that momentum, where tremolo picked riffs churn endlessly over blast driven percussion. Melodic hints appear only to be drowned by distortion and bile. The midsection, particularly “Die in Pain” and “All Come to an End,” reveals Sad’s subtle evolution, not through stylistic expansion, but through compositional discipline. Each track unfolds slowly, collapsing into cyclical structures that border on trance, their simplicity becoming a form of endurance.
Nadir’s vocals remain constant, acidic, human yet detached, anchoring Ungod’s swirling layers in a cold, primitive atmosphere. The production is dense but not suffocating, allowing the riffs to grind rather than blur. Despite its title, Fullmoon’s Bestial Awakening rejects the chaos of bestial metal in favor of grim clarity, its aggression sharpened by restraint. The duo’s command of pacing ensures that the album’s 55 minutes feel ritualistic rather than excessive.
There is no innovation here, and none is needed. Sad understand that black metal’s essence lies in repetition, limitation, and decay. What could be mistaken for stagnation becomes conviction:, a refusal to dilute purpose. Fullmoon’s Bestial Awakening is not revivalism, it is persistence, carved in frost and blood, a monument to endurance beyond inspiration.
Words by FuegoCasa.