SATAN
SATAN “Songs In Crimson”
By Dr. Abner Mality
There’s not much more you can say about SATAN that hasn’t already been said. I keep waiting for them to maybe slip up and put out an album that isn’t quite up to snuff. I’ll have to keep waiting, because “Songs In Crimson” is not that album.
This band is an absolute model of consistency and even more unusual, they back up every claim they make. “Songs In Crimson” has 10 more classic metal tracks filled with speed, urgency and the melody this material deserves. I hate to keep bringing it up, but these guys have been wiping the floor with IRON MAIDEN on their last three albums. There’s an efficiency and energy that MAIDEN just doesn’t have any more. Not a single track here makes the five minute mark, yet songs like “Truth Bullet”, “Sacramental Rites” and “Martyrdom” are bursting with clever riffs and memorable passages. If you’re waiting for cracks to show in the smooth as silk vocals of Brian Ross, forget it. He sounds as slick as ever here….not over the top or histrionic in a Halford kind of way, but just a flowing, dependable stream of articulate vocal ambrosia.
You could make the claim that SATAN has too predictable of a sound, but in this Doctor’s humble opinion, that hasn’t reached the level of being a problem yet. “Turn The Tide” is amazingly heavy for a band of this vintage and the speed and precision is still here in spades. Listen and learn! I think the previous album “Earth Infernal” was just a tad better, but that’s splitting hairs when it comes to quality output like this.