One of the UK’s most revered acts in whatever form they take with their numerous name changes over the years, 1983’s ‘Court in the Act’ is a genuine classic album and when the band went under the Pariah moniker, they produced a similar classic ‘Blaze of Obscurity’, albeit a thrash album. Back firmly as Satan in one form or another since 2004, and further solidified from 2011 with this current line up (the ‘Court in the Act’ line up), this has got to be one of the most hotly tipped releases of the year and it is bound to be a talking point for many a NWOBHM fan old.
So what of the 2012 Satan….it lives, it breathes and it battles the cynics with a pure British metallic fist that will make some of their peers sit back and take note. ‘Time to Die’ introduces Satan of old, Brian Ross’ vocal tone is killer and as expected to be honest, the only critique would be the drums as they sound a tad thin on this online stream, although this could just be the webcasting. This track introduces melody and slower moments that are backed by a killer guitar lick that grows from the initial change of pace before ripping into the main rhythm and solo. The solo, yep, it’s metal, it requires the process of air guitar to be adopted!
‘Twenty Twenty Five’ has a thrashier feel with a futuristic approach, an approach that you often heard in the 80’s. I wonder if they have also been listening to ‘Bird of Prey’ by Uriah Heep with such a similar vocal ah-ah-ahh’s contributing to the variation of sounds on this song. Satan have certainly used a multitude of influences rather than sticking with a straight NWOBHM formula that everyone will no doubt desire. Kudos, this is a well-structured track.
‘Siege Mentality’ is a guitar nut’s delight that is full of energy, clarity and a British trademark, but also the jewel feature are the many inclusive soulful vocal melodies. ‘Incantations’ is more straight metal with Ross’ unparalleled vocal charm and range, if you have some latter Blitzkrieg material, you will get my drift. ‘Testimony’ sounds like a NWOBHM blueprint for all the metal community to follow and the riffs again are killer; there is certainly freshness to the sound and clearly some purpose.
Well done Satan, this is an album I have been genuinely happy to have listened to even though I must admit; I was rather cynical about this effort prior to hearing it. There has been a lot of traffic about this band of late on the internet, whilst mainly based on their past glories; it is humbling and joyful that I can now contribute to the hype in 2013 for Satan, for it is thoroughly justified. This album is a nod to the classic but provides enough variance to take the band forward. This is more than a reunion album; this is a genuine article that has tremendous scope to travel very far.
(9/10 Paul Maddison)
Leave a Reply