The darkened thrashers from America, or the United States of it, are back with their eighth studio album. Three of which are published in a recent past and given commentaries by, by yours truly. But the history of the band digs into the books way until the seventies. At itself, that does not have to mean anything, but persistence like that does deserve some amount of respect, regardless of the achievements. And like I said before, this is the kind of band that makes music that an average band would be proud like a lion on a rock about. The pace is a slight touch lower than modern bands tend to do, but the all-metal mentality drips off the snares on every single stroke on this album. Add to that the ominous vocals of singer Eli Elixer, that touches both eighties thrash as well as a full grunt every now then, and you have a picture “perfectly”, that you like to hear on a long trip in the car.
There is one thing I want to warn you about in advance. You are being used to diabolical comparisons a long time by now, ever since Venom took over the suspicions that Black Sabbath let rise and sold it shamelessly, Satanism has permanently been associated with metal. To a lot of people it is a gimmick, a topic to underline the music. That’s all right, I don’t care about that. You can’t convince me that every horror novelist actually feels the urge to go out and kill someone either. But it’s a different ball game with Satan’s Host. They put a lot of effort and study into it and take Satanism very seriously. If you have any objections towards that, fine, but then this is not a band that you should give a chance, as you can truly feel that nature. One aura that holds little Buddhist principles, so to speak. Be warned.
This CD is divided into three segments, of which on all parts are represented by the number nine. A number, so it appeared before, that has a lot of meaning in numerology for the band. Another remarkable feature is the fact that some space is given to long, repetitive parts. For the connoisseurs among us, according to Alleister Crowley that is one of the basic ingredients of getting into a trace. Besides the thrashy outer layer, the band uses some very clear influences from nineties death and black. And doom metal is not a rarity either. Considering the fact that this band was around way before any of these styles prominently surfaced, it is worth a big compliment from my perspective. Or in their own words: “evolve or die!”. The atmosphere is a bit more direct than the works I previously reviewed of them, but the music stays interesting from the very beginning, until the very end.
This is the blackest incantation of this year. I go and put on some Buddhist meditation music, in order to rise back to the earth’s surface. So this message is still sent to you from out of the seventh ring, by me. If you decide to make occult metal, do it right. Satan’s Host understands the magic (magick) it takes to alter ones mindset and to take you on a hot whirling experience. The biggest surprise to me is gone somewhat by now, but I definitely recommend you to have a listen. That is if previously mentioned arguments did not scare you off. The title says it all.
- Ramon
Rating 88/100
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