Over a year has passed since Satan’s Satyrs released ‘Die Screaming’ (see Ave Noctum reviews passim) onto the world care of Bad Omen Records, and 2015 sees this happy relationship between band and label bare fresh fruit in the form of their third album ‘Don’t Deliver Us.’ In the months that passed between releases, the various band members have been touring, sometimes in separate acts, or together, getting to hit the road with such luminaries of the scene as Pentagram and Electric Wizard, whilst later this year they continue their campaign to win new fans by hitting the UK with fellow bell bottom wearers and worshippers at the altar of retro, Kadavar. All this experience and hard work surely cannot fail to be reflected in their recordings, so how does the latest album stack up against their prior two releases?
Whilst ‘Die Screaming’ opened with the hippy whimsy of ‘Thumper’s Theme’, ‘Don’t Deliver Us’ swaggers out the speakers with opener ‘Full Moon and Empty Veins’, equal parts Iggy Pop posturing and T Rex glam, the vocals of Clayton Burgess taking on more that a little of the trippy timbre of the late, great Marc Bolan, a sound ably complimented by the bar-room thump of the piano and pouting guitar solo. ‘Two Hands’ follows, combining a Lemmyesque bass blast with a stripped back rock beat; this is a no frills studded leather clad fist in your face number, bereft of subtlety and rough around the edges, just crying out to be played live, loud and fast.
Their horror punk influence runs richly through the stomp of ‘(Won’t You Be My) Gravedancer’ and ‘Spooky Nuisance’, whilst ‘Germanium Bomb’ comes off as the bastard child of fifties rock rebellion angst and seventies punk nihilism, a non stop mix of sneering, snarling, and contempt, the lo-fi sound hearkening back to an era of garage rock and production techniques that had never heard of the microchip, a sound that is almost ironic considering Germanium has no great part in bombs, but is the element that makes up the fibre optic cables that carry the internet information that the Western World relies on so much! Amongst the stripped back three minute sprints of most of the album tracks, Satan’s Satyrs manage to get their psychedelic freak-out on with the extended musical breaks of ‘Creepy Teens’, whilst the album closes with ”Round The Bend’ where sounds of Doom, Glam, Psyche, Rock, Punk and Metal are all thrown into a melting pot to create a number that sounds equal parts improvised blues jam and skilfully crafted centre piece for a live show. To make a number flow so easily and smoothly is clearly a testament to the time the band has been working together and developing.
As their time together increases, each member of the band is honing their craft, but rather than becoming unnecessarily complex and resorting to technical wizardry, they are just becoming more solid and uncompromising, creating a sound that is meant to be recreated live without resorting to electronic trickery. If this album were a car, it would not be a high tech Porsche, it would be a Pontiac muscle car, nothing fancy, and plenty of grunt.
(8/10 Spenny)
13/11/2015 at 9:41 am
Saw these gents live opening for Kadavar in Glasgow; they have come on leaps and bounds live. Their playing is tighter then ever, and Clayton is developing into a great front man, working the stage and communicating with the audience so much better than the previous time I caught them live in London.