Released on the mighty Metal Blade records, home of all things dark and devilish, no one would expect Satan’s Wrath to be an easy listen. Even so, one listen to the tormented, unnerving intro to ‘Leonard Rising – Night of the whip’ is enough to set the teeth on edge, the unbelievably dark bass underpinning the harrowing sounds of screams and eerie chanting. It is the perfect opening, deliciously dark and unpleasant and it leads straight into the band’s well-produced, black metal onslaught with a sense of malevolent and single-minded purpose.
‘Leonard Rising’ may have an intro straight out of Rob Zombie’s wildest fantasies, but musically the band are a heady brew of black, thrash and trad-metal more in the vein of recent Darkthrone releases, the rampaging bass more Motorhead than Venom, but the black metal lineage still clearly evident in the guttural vocals and razor sharp guitar riffs. Moreover, Satan’s Wrath offer genuine variety in their music. ‘Leonard Rising’ is a lengthy number that progresses through a number of riffs and whilst still serving up plenty of raw metal thrills, and ‘Between Belial and Satan’ is no less innovative. Cleverly mixing the best elements from ‘for whom the bell tolls’ and ‘whiplash’ with ‘Angel of death’ and ‘black metal’ the track is a devastatingly fast, brutal assault on your straining ear drums that has just the right melodic edge to guarantee you remember it as more than just a blood-soaked blur and enough aggression to have the adrenalin pumping through the veins with real force.
Two tracks into the album and ‘one thousand goats in Sodom’ (surely one of metal’s great titles?) is certainly not going to slow the pace. A rattling, blackened attack it has a riff that is drier than bleached bones in the desert, recalling the very earliest assaults of Megadeth and Metallica crossed with the primitive fury of Venom. It sounds awesome, and old-school fans will be in the throes of ecstasy as the band peal out solos that cut through the mix with admirable strength and clarity. ‘Hail Tritone, Hail Lucifer’ is rock ‘n’ roll with a satanic twist, the opening riff straight out of Black Sabbath’s book of demonic riffs™, with the rasped vocals and deferential lyrical content rooting the track upon a far more demonic plane and the wailing feedback and storm-soaked mid-section torn wholesale from ‘raining blood’. As with many bands of this ilk the music is not innovative as such, there is far too much metal history shot through the band’s black-as-night attack, but it is the manner in which Satan’s Wrath incorporate their influences to weave them into something new that makes them stand out, for just as you nail a reference point the band will invariably twist from your grasp and head off in a different direction be it via a tempo change, a sudden unexpected solo or just a new, more intense riff suddenly being ground out. It keeps things fresh, surprising and exciting and the speed and fury with which the band undertake their task is no mean thing either.
‘Galloping blasphemy’ is exactly what the title suggests, a galloping riff that recalls Iron Maiden’s much maligned ‘Losfer words (big ‘orra)’ and then the band hit you with ‘death possessed’, a furious combination of vintage Slayer and Darkthrone with all the aggression and blackened attitude such a combination entails. It’s a stampeding highlight of the album, yet ‘death to life’ is not to be outdone with a grinding riff tearing itself physically from a hell-burned vocal for what must surely be the most evil track on the disc, only for the band to pull off another twist slipping into a glorious solo that is pure classic rock before lurching back into the closing riff. ‘Slaves of the inverted cross’ is a creepy piece that opens to the sound of a lone bass and rattling chains before the band kick in with a hell bound riff that is furiously dirty and then the closing track, ‘Satan’s wrath’ appears in a puff of sulphuric smoke, the band rounding out the album with a pure old-school track that mixes up Iron Maiden’s ‘powerslave’ with the stoner vibe of Monster Magnet and the ravaged vocals of Fenriz. It’s heavy, but so laden in spirit, attitude and, yes, melody, that it succeeds in being both shrouded in the darkness and yet catchy as hell – possibly one of the Devil’s greatest tricks yet.
Satan’s Wrath are not intent on re-inventing the wheel. Their music is steeped in the sounds, sights and smells of the heavy metal scene from the past thirty years. Referencing the unassailable Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden, then placing those worthy influences in a blender with Darkthrone, Venom, Slayer and Metallica, Satan’s Wrath not only promise great things but, with a scaly claw and steel toe-capped boot, they also deliver with ease and this is a cast-iron slab of solid metal. Brutal but with broad appeal, melodic but never a compromise, ‘Galloping Blasphemy’ is a devilish triumph.
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