Following a retrospective release of all their past recordings recently, this is Finnish group Satan’s Fall’s first full length album. Their earlier material was much faster, but the bare bones of Priest and Saxon still remain on this debut. Whilst they seem to scoff at the “sad plethora of ironic retro-activists”, the music is pretty much as said. The difference being the lyrics, which are more about depression, war and the end of the world. For those who thought they may have been a clone of a famous Danish band based on the name, think again!
Their melodic grip is similar to Sweden’s Ambush, but with a later guitar sound of say 82-88 of those two bands I mentioned earlier. There is a cool catchy element to ‘There Will Be Blood’ that actually takes me to Lizzy Borden territory (I think there was a similar song title, that’s why) and going back to ‘They Come Alive’ you get a nice flowing feeling through the music. Of course, you have to have survived the initial kick of the opener ‘Forever Blind’. There’s some great solo work, you expect that of course. The tracks are presented well and written well. Some bands best work is when they have direct input, this album was self-produced so they definitely knew what they were doing.
You may be seduced into a world of mirrored sunglasses, denim and leather as the PR material suggests, but there is an outside of the “in-crowd” presence. They may be trying and in fact do achieve that, but lazy labelling will have them part of that scene anyway. However, the times are changing, this year has proven that, maybe a more focussed reality check needs to be addressed in paying homage to classic metal sounds. This album certainly achieves that. You hear influences, but there isn’t too many sound alike sections. It may be less speed metal than earlier efforts but this album certainly kicks your ass and gives you a reality check if ever you needed it on the back of a pretty shit year for most around the world.
(8.5/10 Paul Maddison)
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