I’d hazard a guess that this cult act are more well known in the USA than they are in Europe even if they have been plying their musical pact with the devil since way back in 1988. Their output during this time, although a for a few years under the name of Bathym, has seen them spawn a slew of releases including no less than eleven albums prior to this one. Under founding member Paul Tucker they certainly are not lacking in perseverance. It’s also worth noting that some members past and present have ties with Vincent Crowley and Acheron which should give you a clue what to expect here, horror-fuelled blackened death metal with some elements of black thrash.
Knocking out ten tracks in a little over the half hour mark it is easy to get into the element of their music here, which we are informed are the “perfect embodiment of the pre-digital era Death Metal sound.” Eerie atmosphere leads us into ‘Beyond The Witch’ and it is notable that although not frantically fast, emphasis is placed on the hard-hitting pulse of the drums. Vocals are nasally rasps and before looking up the players I was not 100% sure if they were being delivered by a witch or a warlock (it is the latter and apparently Tucker himself). There’s some melodic guitar work which has a bit of a Scandinavian sound about it and there’s little mucking about as the players keep things short and cut out any fat from things. This one finishes with some neat vocal reverb too. Formidable roars coat numbers like ‘To Bring The Sabbat’ and one quickly gets acclimatised to the cut and thrust of it all. There are occasional flurries of speed found among it all such as on the suggested ‘Furious Damnatum’ but on the whole I found myself toe-tapping and along to this rather than breaking into a sweat and feeling the need to head-bang away.
To be honest I would probably have been more-dismissive of this if it were a new band but one has to give Sathanas their due for the fact they are originators rather than followers and the oozing malevolence at the heart of the album does atmospherically win me over after a few listens. Equally appealing to blasphemers who worship at the altar of both black and death metal this exercise in Demonology doesn’t outstay its welcome and in keeping with its ethos the mark bestowed upon it is an easy one.
(6.66/10 Pete Woods)
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