Swedish metal band Sarcator have released their fourth studio album, The Ones We Follow, today via Reigning Phoenix Music. The ten-track record pushes the Trollhättan group beyond their extreme metal roots and into darker, hook-driven territory, with gothic Western atmospheres and raw rock ‘n’ roll energy sitting alongside their death and blackened vocals. The title track is streaming now as an official music video.
Order The Ones We Follow here.
The band call the result death’s rock, a label they describe as an identity rather than a genre. Punk urgency, gothic atmosphere, timeless heavy metal and dark rock swagger all sit together on the record, and every creative decision starts with one simple question: what serves the song?
Vocalist and guitarist Mateo Tervonen traced that approach back a few years in a recent interview with Dead Rhetoric:
“When we wrote the second album, we started to listen to all kinds of music, and it made the album sound more progressive, weird, and rock-oriented, and we have kept that since then.”
Mateo Tervonen
On the making of the new album, he added:
“We were more focused. That shines through in the material as well. It’s very worked through.”
Mateo Tervonen
From Extreme Metal Newcomers to Death’s Rock
Sarcator debuted with a self-titled album in 2020, followed it with Alkahest in 2022 and moved up to Century Media for Swarming Angels & Flies in January 2025, a cycle we first covered with the single “Where the Void Begins”. Along the way they earned nominations for Sweden’s P3 Guld and Grammis Awards and shared stages with Hellripper, 1349 and Midnight. New bassist Linus Edmarker joins the lineup on this record.
Early press has been warm. Sweden Rock Magazine named it Album of the Month, while Metal Hammer said it “should definitely be on every fan of dark music’s radar this year.”
Tracklist
- The Ones We Follow
- The Underground Streets
- You Gotta Possess Me
- In Search of Oblivion
- Rotting Chapels
- Bleeding Ages
- Volatile Insight
- Ain’t Fit to Live
- Wasteland Strider
- Wanderlust
Upcoming Live Dates
- November 6, 2026: Stockholm, Sweden, Kollektivet Livet, with Zadism (album release show)
- November 7, 2026: Zebbug, Malta, Metal at Lust Festival, The Garage
- December 5, 2026: Falun, Sweden, Klubb Slammer
- December 19, 2026: Gothenburg, Sweden, Monument, with The Crown
- August 26 to 28, 2027: Næstved, Denmark, Næstved Metalfest
Our Take
Few young bands would risk leaving a well-earned extreme metal audience behind, and that is what makes this shift interesting. By keeping the harsh vocals while chasing bigger hooks and a Western atmosphere, Sarcator sound like they are building something of their own instead of following a template. If you came for the extreme metal of their early days, give the title track a chance.
Sarcator are: Mateo Tervonen (vocals, guitar), Leo Buchalle (guitar), Linus Edmarker (bass), Jesper Rosén (drums).
