SATAN are a band that doesn’t need any special introduction.
We are talking about a well-known band that started their journey in Heavy Metal inside the most explosive era of NWOBHM, back in 1980 and was an integral part of that musical movement.
Their debut masterpiece ‘’Court In The Act’’ was released in 1983 and that was their ‘’magnum opus’’ in the first period of their existence which lasted till 1987. They reformed again in 2011 and have accomplished to achieve a second period of prolonged matured youth.
They have delivered 4 consecutive very good albums in their ‘’second era’’: ‘’Life Sentence’’ (2013), ‘’Atom by Atom’’ (2015), ‘’Cruel Magic’’ (2018), ‘’Earth Infernal’’ (2022). Now, with their 5th album in their second period and 7th full-length album in total, they continue this new ‘’tradition’’ that they have established in ‘’delivering the goods’’. Thus means, great quality NWOBHM, with experience and maturity, since they are not novices, but veterans of the scene.
So, the question arises. Can they be relevant today and what do they have to offer?
Let’s look into the music and have the music and the lyrics in order to answer that question.
The album starts very strong with ‘’Frantic Zero’’, which has really hooked riffs by Russ Tippins and Steve Ramsey and a very catchy vocal line by Brian Ross that accompanies it.
The next song ‘’Era (The Day Will Come)’’ continues the solid NWOBHM pattern and offers again intricate riffs and solos, vivid drumming by Sean Taylor and colorful bass passages by Graeme English, while the chorus is beautifully dramatic. As Russ Tippins states about the song:
“There is nobody on this planet who is not familiar with the feeling of loss. When you get to the age we are at in this band, it becomes a weekly occurrence. If there is a message in the lyric, it is pretty much ‘do not take anything for granted.’ Especially people. You just don’t know what is around the corner that you can’t see coming.”
‘’Whore of Babylon’’ is another mid-tempo song with a chorus that has a melody that sticks in your mind. ‘’Sacramental Rites’’ which follows, enters equally in the competition of which track has the most beautiful chorus in the album! Another delightful NWOBHM hymn!
‘’Martyrdom’’ closes the first half of the album with a more hard – rocking way, with amazing solos. I cannot really say which half of the album is my favorite. For old-school ‘’mates’’, that would mean that in a vinyl record, both the A-side of the vinyl and the B-side are real ‘’killers’’.
‘’Turn the Tide’’ is another hymn with marvelous riffs, solos and chorus, while ‘’Captives’’ is a faster driven and galloping song. ‘’Curse in Disguise’’ is a ferocious song that brings in the surface some straight forward MERCYFUL FATE influences. ‘’Truth Bullet’’ is maybe the less intense song on the album, though not a bad song, bad slightly weaker than the rest 9 tracks.
‘’Deadly Crimson’’ is the last track of the album and can be considered virtually as the title track, which has a more progressive musical direction and makes some KING CRIMSON influences to emerge. The song has a specific lyrical message, which expresses thoughts and critic on modern societies and especially their global economic structure.
My sole objection regarding the album is that I got the impression in some points, that the production felt a little bit muddy. I suppose I wanted that to be more clear or distinct. Apart from that detail, ‘’Songs In Crimson’’ is a very good album, with extremely good songwriting and the awesome voice of Brian Ross, who has also participated in another very good NWOBHM album, released a few days ago and that was BLITZKRIEG’s self-titled one.
‘’Songs In Crimson’’ has been released on the 13th of September 2024 by Metal Blade Records and is available on LP, CD and Digital format.
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Check the discussion about the album in our forum pages.
