Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Satan
Label: Listenable Records
Release: 2015
Runtime: 47:39
Rating: 5/5
Satan are a classic name in the world’s heavy metal pantheon. After storming back onto the scene in 2013 with the phenomenal album »Life Sentence« (the band’s career has always been extremely turbulent, with endless lineup changes and even temporary changes of the band’s name), the new album »Atom by Atom« keeps that outstanding inspiration burning.
»Atom by Atom« is stuffed with a heap of exceptional riff ideas that, with their creative, lived-in feel and freshness, are honestly more than a pleasant surprise in a sea of generic stuff from modern times. And really, that’s not even odd. Satan belong to the league of bands that were the starting point for the genre branches of metal, especially the later thrash and speed metal. The duo of Steve Ramsey (a founding member of the band and, as it happens, a guitar teacher at a music school) and his partner in crime Russ Tippins generate an incredible run of inventive compositional seasoning. Foundation riffs with real charisma morph over the course of the motifs into harmonized picking across the riffs, get extra guitar embellishments layered on top, and the instrumental middle sections barely need a word, since they’re a tapestry of superb solo interplay between the two guitars in tight dialogue.
Satan are fast and extremely feisty. And nothing’s changed for them with the years. On the new album they gallop with undiminished intensity, carried over authentically from the early eighties. In 2015, you simply can’t get more old-school and retro than what »Atom by Atom« offers. Their classic album »Court in the Act« (1983) was already a true herald of extreme-speed times, dictated by the arrival of later bands (led by Metallica) – who went on to deal in even more hellishly fast rhythms and riffs.
The energy radiating from this album is dark, wicked, apocalyptic, almost occult. The production is garage-live and dirty, and you can feel exactly that moment at the turn of the seventies into the eighties, when punk’s arrival hit the sound of early heavy metal bands hard, and the NWOBHM movement itself. The album keeps the sound of its predecessor »Life Sentence«, which is very, very good. It doesn’t get more authentic or genuine than this. And it’s more than obvious, once again, that in this new era only mature, seasoned music veterans can pull off an album like this, the kind who’ve held on over the years to a philosophy of total musical independence. Even the moments of greater catchiness, say the bits that could slide into bombast, like the instrumental modulation in the middle (especially the vocal choir harmonies) of the album’s devastating closer The Fall Of Persephone, never take over. The album is commanded by venomous guitar phrasing from the authentic old school of metal, shot through with fantastic solo escapades, and the songs are built as compositions out of several leading motifs (in that respect, the closing The Fall Of Persephone is where the album peaks).
Another crucial element behind this album’s unique shape is, of course, the vocals of Brian Ross. The guy that NWOBHM fans (and fans of Metallica history) know as the first voice of Blitzkrieg (who played at this year’s Metaldays in Tolmin) has kept his incredible vocal power and range, hitting extreme highs with feather-light ease, as his opening »scream« on the album makes clear right away!
With »Atom by Atom«, Satan prove they’re still brimming with youthful drive and creative freshness. We can call »Atom by Atom« one of the best albums on the metal scene this year (whatever the subgenre), and its retro nature and absolute authentic musical charisma are a guarantee of the evergreen quality the album will pick up over time. Had this been made in the eighties, it would be considered one of the classics of classic metal today. No disrespect, and full throttle. Every second of the album radiates the big heart, the never-rotting heart, of these legends of classic British metal.
Lineup
Brian Ross – vocals
Russ Tippins – guitar
Steve Ramsey – guitar
Graeme English – bass
Sean Taylor – drums
Production
Satan & Dario Mollo
Tracklist
1. Farewell Evolution
2. Fallen Saviour
3. Ruination
4. The Devil’s Infantry
5. Atom by Atom
6. In Contempt
7. My Own God
8. Ahriman
9. Bound in Enmity
10. The Fall of Persephone
