There’s little in the way of ambiguity as to whose allegiance this five-piece pledge their blackened souls. Featuring former Electric Wizard bassist Tasos ‘Tas’ Danazoglou, Satan’s Wrath are all about dropping to their knees and nibbling on the pecker of the horned one while musically revisiting the more evil-sounding greats of the 80s, Bathory, Autopsy, Venom and Bay Area thrashers such as Slayer and Possessed all clearly influences on an album that tops last year’s decent debut, Galloping Blasphemy.
Rewinding back through 30 years of metal, Only Satan Is Lord and Satan’s Blood, Lucifer’s Fire mix up old-school thrash, early death and NWOBHM, but all with a velvety, doomy underbelly. Cue the occasional monk-like choral chant and funereal organ flourish. It’s mostly unadorned stuff executed with precision, while occult necromancy informs all the lyrics throughout.
The classic-sounding and somewhat apoplectic Die White Witch Die is a standout moment while the closing title track is an exhausting nine-minute thrash workout that could be rightly described as epic. Extra points for the gloriously gory medieval artwork.
