Back in 2018 I reviewed Satan’s Satyrs “The Lucky Ones” album. Reckoning “There are bands that don’t manage this many twists and turns in a career, never mind just over half an hour”, it was madness.
What we didn’t know then was that they were to split up. , to return with this, their first album in six years.
Still led by Clayton Burgess and still doing it their way, albums don’t often start with something as unhinged as “Hellin’ It Like It Is”. I’ve never taken acid, but I imagine this is what it is like.
Even their press release doesn’t know what they sound like. Namechecking Sabbath, The Stooges, Venom, and Blue Cheer. It all fits, though, that’s the thing.
“Deadly Again” has hints of Thin Lizzy, Monster Magnet, and a nightmare all at once, while “Quick Quiet Raid” sounds like the noise that will be coming out of the rehearsal space at your local Hells Angels chapter.
Occasionally something approaching tune breaks out, like on “All 4s” – garage punk for the modern age, and sometimes there’s an epic. Like “Salltair Burns” it is even more unhinged the longer they get.
Normality breaks out (nearly) with the proto-metal “Iron And Ivy” and the energy of “What The Winds Brought” and if the acoustics of “Genuine Turquoise” are a turn that you weren’t expecting, then it sounds a little like The Flaming Lips.
Indeed, as “The Afterdark/Matressback” rounds it all off, then you’re unsure whether to welcome them back to the neighbourhood or worry about the house prices going down.
What they get up to “After Dark” scares the living crap out of me, which means in the world of Satan’s Satyrs it’s very much business as normal.
Rating 7/10
