As the world of gigs and tours slowly returns to something approaching normality after two years in suspended animation, where only the merest glimmer of life was to be seen via online shows from locked down studios, and so many bands will have sadly folded, in the last few weeks I have found myself reliving my teenage years, an era when NWOBHM was king and a young Lars Ulrich was following Diamond Head around like a lovestruck puppy. In the last couple of weeks, thanks to Dark Arts Events (www.darkartevents.com) I’ve seen on stage the likes of Grim Reaper, Blitzkrieg, Demon, Medusa Touch, and Spartan Warrior to name a few, and all, whilst older and featuring various proportions of original members, each was on bloody top form and playing with gusto. As such, when Satan, the veteran Newcastle Upon Tyne metal band, not the Abrahamic bogey man, was offered for review by the editor, it was a given that I wanted first shot at the music.
Following on from 2018’s ‘Cruel Magic’ (would the gap have been shorter but for unfortunate circumstances?), ‘Earth Infernal’ opens with the pomp and bluster of ‘Ascendancy’, the twin guitars of founder members Steve Ramsey and Russ Tippins striding forth proudly as if it were again the eighties and they were up and coming young bucks rather than the seasoned veterans they are. Riffs fire forth with a speed and complexity that has them raising proud middle fingers to the passage of time that could have stolen the dexterity from the hands of lesser musicians. Talking of time standing still, when the voice of Brian Ross screams forth, it is apparent that he has preserved his vocal chords through some sort of magic. And before you ask, no it is not the result of studio fiddling and twiddling; as I mentioned earlier, I caught one of the other bands he fronts, Blitzkrieg just a couple of weeks ago, and he still brings the fire live.
‘Burning Portrait’ follows, and in the great tradition of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, classic literature is explored for the lyrical theme, in this case Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’; whilst the entertainment news in the popular press may be full of a story of some unknown rapper suing a ginger deliverer of blandness to the masses for millions over whether “Oh I” sounds like “Oh Why”, these chaps have been steeping themselves in the great works of fiction that have inspired readers, musicians, artists and film makers for over a hundred and thirty years. Riffage aplenty comes care of ‘Twelve Eternal Lords’, Progtastic time changes being thrown into the mix whilst the story of magic and damnation unfolds, the drums and bass of Messrs Taylor and English powering the whole forward with a unity and precision that speaks volumes of their years of playing together. ‘Mercury’s Shadow’ introduces an introspective acoustic feel to the mix, a short instrumental interlude that leads into the initially dreamy and pastoral opening of ‘A Sorrow Unspent’, the opening bars a stark contrast to the amplified gallop of the body of the song, whilst the following ‘Luciferic’ plumbs the depths of all things devilish with an almost knowing wink to those who think that metal is nothing but an unholy noise. Rest assured though, the difference between the work of Satan and the tuneless screaming and sickening low-fi feedback of so many black metal acts is the difference between the class and panache of a Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing Hammer Horror and the brutality of a gore for the sake it slasher movie. Not a single track on the album could be written off as filler: ‘From Second Sight’ delivers beats to have fists clad in fingerless studded leather gloves pumping the air; ‘Poison Elegy’ is slower, but gives full rein to the instrumentalists of the band to explore their Prog side; ‘The Blood Ran Deep’ is a neck wrecking sprint of a number; and album closer ‘Earth We Bequeath’ in an alternative reality would be the massive sweeping track that Satan played as the finish to yet another sold date at Wembley Arena.
It may not be a popular opinion, but for me in recent years whilst the single most successful band to emerge from The New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, namely Iron Maiden, have continued to fill stadia and shift t-shirts and albums by the personalised jumbo jet load, their albums have been getting progressively more and more self-indulgent and bloated, and I say that as someone who has been a fan of Yes for over forty years and has tickets for their upcoming ‘Close To The Edge’ tour! By comparison, without the security blanket of millions of pounds and a massive contract to fall back on, Satan with ‘Earth Infernal’ have produced an album that is every bit as lean and hungry as they produced in the days long ago when well, they were lean and hungry. If the HRH brand decides they should get curate another NWOBHM weekend festival, I’ve no doubt in my mind that Satan should headline a day, and would be one hell of a draw.
(8.5/10 Spenny)
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