SARPEDON – Demo 2006

Sarpedon is a new band from Norway headed up by Metal Express Radio’s own Torgeir Krokfjord. Torgeir squeezes the axe for Sarpedon, and is the responsible party who penned the music and lyrics for the 3 songs comprising the band’s first offering to the public, affectionately entitled Demo 2006. The multi-talented Torgeir also lays a few keyboard bars within the songs, while his younger brother, Eirik, also a Crew Member for Metal Express Radio, mans the microphone. Ove Eeg plucking the bass guitar and Carl Engstrom popping the drums round out the players responsible for making Demo 2006 a reality.

Sarpedon’s style is a challenge to accurately identify … each of the 3 songs on this demo have distinct stylistic differences – the band, at times, displays Extreme Progressive tendencies and some salubrious Thrash elements, both mostly rooted in non-traditional Power Metal frameworks. The one consistency within these 3 tracks is the vocal delivery of Eirik Krokfjord, whose singing is no less unique than the music, actually further adding to the diversity present in Demo 2006. Eirik’s voice tends to waft in the shadows of the music. His voice is strong, but his delivery is somewhat relaxed and calm, even though the 3 songs are all upbeat musically. Eirik’s “personality” exhibited through these 3 songs can be compared to a serial killer whose “criminal mind” is being interviewed for a documentary … the shadowy tone in Eirik’s voice is much the same to the calmness, matter-of-factness, and spookiness heard from a prolific killer as he recants his victims’ tortuous deaths in a nonchalant fashion without ever increasing his heart rate past 45 beats per minute. Very interesting, and Eirik’s style does add a memorable flavor to Sarpedon’s music.

The 3 songs on this demo are entitled “To Some A Child,” “In Death’s Design,” and “In The Sign Of Sin.” “To Some A Child” is the best song on this demo … it has a very powerful and catchy Thrashy powerchord riff right out of the shoot, a great extended musical jam in the middle of the track, a deliberate and forceful drumbeat throughout, a good lyrical theme, and a few discretionary keyboard passages that spice up the music nicely. If this young band could be capable of writing 10 tracks in the vein of “To Some A Child,” the record companies would be fighting tooth and nail to sign these guys.

“In Death’s Design” is more of a Power Metal song, with a cool hint of keyboards in the early part of the track that reminds of something the band Europe would have done in “The Final Countdown.” “In Death’s Design” is also a winner by this band, but not quite as well-structured and inspired as “To Some A Child.” Still, this song, especially if retooled a bit in a higher-budget recording studio, shows solid potential.

“In The Sign Of Sin” is one of those songs where it appears the band just says, “We’re going to play as fast and furious as we can, and we’ll see what comes out of it.” With frantic drumbeats provided by a programming machine (complements of Torgeir), “In The Sign Of Sin” delves into several rhythms before it’s over, all of them frenetic. The song’s bright spots can be found at Eirik’s microphone and during Torgeir’s guitar solo, which is really the only point where the song develops some noticeable structure. Overall, though, the instruments within this song just don’t seem to blend well, and the song is begging to establish some sort of groove or structure. However, if you like your Metal played at blistering speeds, this just may be your cup of tea.

All in all, Sarpedon’s Demo 2006 is a promising initial composition of eclectic Metal music that shows the band has definite potential and some strong musical ideas and creativity. It will be interesting to see if Sarpedon settles into one definitive sub-genre of Metal, or if they continue to embrace a multi-faceted stylistic approach. This band is definitely worth checking out … all 3 of these songs can be heard when visiting the Sarpedon website.