There’s been some rock solid releases all across the spectrum of hard and heavy music this first quarter of 2022. That said, a handful of veteran acts have been absolutely dominating the year thus far. Saxon came storming out of the gates with their latest effort, Carpe Diem, a steadfast contender for album of the year. Scorpions shocked everybody with Rock Believer, their most cohesive and compelling album since 1984’s Love at First Sting. And now comes another legendary “S” band, Satan, with an album that gives metal bands both young and old a run for their money, Earth Infernal.
Despite being one of the most musically adventurous and collectively talented bands of the NWOBHM scene, Satan never ascended beyond cult status during their initial run. I’d attribute this to their explicitly evil name and imagery, but that wouldn’t explain the overnight success of Venom, who in their prime was headlining academies and cracked Tipper Gore’s Filthy 15. No, for whatever reason another, Satan got lost in the shuffle. At various points in their career, they’d reinvent themselves as the more consumer friendly Blind Fury (mid 80s) and full throttle thrash squad Pariah (late 80s), but at the end of the day, they couldn’t shake the Satan out of their blood.
When the band reunited for good in the early 2010s, fans couldn’t help but be in awe of their first studio offering in 20+ years, Life Sentence (2013). This didn’t sound like a band trying to pick up where their glory days left off. This sounded like a band whose glory days never ended! The same observation applies to 2015’s Atom by Atom, 2018’s Cruel Magic, and now Earth Infernal. From the moment the opening “Ascendency” took charge, I knew I was in for a treat. Satan’s brand of dark, energetic, and powerful metal remains as impactful and enthralling as ever, thanks to a riveting display of unrelenting riffs, gripping vocals, and raw atmosphere.
One of Satan’s signature traits is incorporating facets of prog instrumentation and songwriting within their traditional metal delivery. The only other early 80s metal bands doing this so proficiently were Mercyful Fate and Iron Maiden. But while Mercyful Fate has been radio silent for over two decades, and Maiden has grown creatively tired, Satan continues to excel in this department with cuts like “Burning Portrait”, “From Second Sight”, and “Poison Elegy”. These metallic opuses are balanced out by high speed headbangers like “A Sorrow Unspent” and “The Blood Ran Deep”, which capture the ferocity of that special era between late 70s metal and thrash. There are smatterings of thrash ridden vitriol (“Twelve Infernal Lords”) and mesmeric melodies (“Luciferic”) as well, but at the end of the day, it’s all part of Satan’s design.
Satan is a band that’s still possessed by the spirit of unrelenting and unapologetic heavy metal. Their dedication to elevating and preserving the genre’s heart and soul is unmatched by just about every one of their peers, save for Saxon. And while Saxon remains the heavy metal heavyweights, eager to please their denim and leather clad masses, it’s Satan who sits mighty upon their thrones, eternal rulers of the traditional metallic netherworld. May their reign last for all eternity!
10 out of 10
Label: Metal Blade Records
Genre: Heavy Metal
For fans of: Mercyful Fate, Iron Maiden, Angel Witch