Satyricon - 'Satyricon' Album Review

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Black metal has always been dirty, gritty and filthy with crappy vocals and instruments that sound like they are emanating from an aluminum garage. That is what made it different and likable in the dawn of the black metal era in the early 80’s. Black metal helped kids stand up and say, ‘Hey, this is different, just like me.’

Satyricon’s new release, simply titled, ‘Satyricon’ is their seventh studio album in the last ten years. The band is a Norwegian Black Metal masterpiece and this album goes in a different direction than previous albums. Some Satyricon fans say this new album strays too far from classic Satyricon (yes, I talked to a couple Satyricon fans). That may be so, but it still has classic Norwegian Black Metal oozing from some of its pores.

Black metal has always been dirty, gritty and filthy with crappy vocals and instruments that sound like they are emanating from an aluminum garage. That is what made it different and likable in the dawn of the black metal era in the early 80’s. Black metal helped kids stand up and say, ‘Hey, this is different, just like me.’

Thanks, Venom!

The different sound on this record is the new age-ish style of rhythms and beats. Track Three, ‘Our World, It Rumbles Tonight’ is an example of what black metal sounds like when it is blended with the clunkiness of upbeat harmonies and bridges. While harmonies and bridges are not particularly clunky, they can be when thrown into a black metal album.

The song ‘Nocturnal Flare’ begins with something you might hear on a rhythm and blues type album. Not something you would expect in the black metal genre. However, this is a great song rampant with a dark, melodic background groove. This is where Satyricon strayed from conventional black metal and upped their game.

This album has a clean sound along with still gritty vocals from frontman, Satyr. Gritty vocals until the song ‘Phoenix,’ on which he actually sings. This song is filled with echoic background vocals and when Satyr sings, he sounds a little like Elvis Costello. Not sure if that adds or detracts from the ambience of the entire album, but it isn’t tragic. The impressive part is that Satyr has an amazing tenor voice.

I guess it can work out when a band branches into a slightly new direction.

Average: 5 (2 votes)
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About Darlene

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Writer and reviewer for Metal CallOut.  Favorite sub genres includes: Black, Thrash, Melodic Death, Traditional.  Darlene can be found on @DarleneSteelmanGoogle+ or Facebook.

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