Review: Satyrasis – ….Of The Dead (2015)

Published:

US death metallers go for the throat on latest release.

Satyrasis are a technical and progressive death/thrash band from Michigan, USA with a penchant for aural annihilation.

….Of The Dead is their second full release and comes seven years after their debut Creation of Failure. Whilst on the face of it that seems like a Metallica-sized gap between albums they haven’t been idle. Formed in 2003 in their home city of Lansing their lyrical content, like all those a morbid bent on life, focuses on horror, death and, of course, politics!! The three-piece, made up of vocalist & guitarist David Peterman, fellow guitarist Matt Trzcinski and drummer Dimitri Mitropoulos, are on a mission to rid the world of stale thrash and death metal and introduce a new dark wave of brutality via technical excellence.

“A Foot In Each Grave” kicks things off in progressively ethereal and spooky manner before launching into familiar death metal territory with venomous lyrics thrown forth and backed by thrashing riffs tempered by sweeping melodies. It’s a direction shifting pattern the repeats itself throughout the album, although never to the point of being anything other than totally captivating in its vision and complexity.

“Dead Peasants” is perhaps the best individual track with its Pantera-like groove riff. There is plenty of rise and fall in the band’s music and this track illustrates that. Likewise “Excision” and “Waltz for a Marionette” combine a myriad of the styles that somehow ends up being Satyrasis. Technical competence is one thing but it is ultimately meaningless if you cannot back it up with memorable tracks and moments. The band have that in spades.

A review of this album would not be complete without mentioning the band’s muscular and fiery cover of the classic Rush track “Circumstances”. Rather than throw on the track as a bit of a bonus it appears they have carefully selected this track and integrated it into the album’s overall theme and atmosphere. If you didn’t know better, and quite a few don’t, you wouldn’t know it wasn’t another Satyrasis original.

Eleven minute closer “In Ruins” opens with a slow jazz-inflected prologue before things take a more sinister turn. It is two minutes or so into the track before the tracks intention is revealed. From there it’s a slow burning thrash diatribe that descends into the deathly maelstrom before becoming reborn.

The band understand and reflect their roots but at the same time they have something new to add.   They are walking an as-yet untrodden path. Where it leads who knows. I doubt the band know themselves but for now they are taking in the view and reflecting what they see and feel back through their music. Powerful. Confident. Uncompromising.

Donnie’s Rating: 9/10

Head over to https://satyrasis.bandcamp.com/ to check out this brutal beauty for yourselves.

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