Usually each year we’re faced with much uncertainty when hearing new metal music, especially a band with veterans such as Satan. But we have been lucky this year to listen to lots of new material from the genre of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, such as Venom, Raven, Motorhead, Iron Maiden and now Satan. It’s possible with this release, Satan’s Atom By Atom, that your local neighbourhood metal fan may feel as though they walked into a time wrap and they are now in 1980. The sounds, the riffs, and classic feeling is all here and, more importantly, it has been recorded the right way.
Let’s not forget that in 2013 Satan gave us a great album called Life Sentence, which some feel is right up there with any of the with any of the classic albums of the day. How could they top that, right?
Well, for starters, this album is more technical. The speed picked riffs are descending and ascending through out tracks like ” Farewell Evolution, ” and the foot stumping fun part in the middle adds catchiness. Later on, in songs like “Fallen Saviour” and “My Own God,” the guitarists find brilliant ways to make soloing technical and fun. Meanwhile the jamming and head banging party erupts on “Atom by Atom,” with machine gun riffs that cut like a hot knife through butter. But possible the best thing is Brian Ross’s vocals, especially when he shouts on “Atom by Atom” and, later, asking “will you remember me when I’m dead?”. If you enjoy Chris Black’s vocals on Dawnbringer et al, this might be for you. “Ahriman” feaures some fantastic proto-thrash riffs and a neo-classical/middle eastern mood, as well as a punk feel later on. The album’s final two songs could be considered masterpieces though! “Bound in Eternity” is easily a progressive masterpiece; the rhythm section really pulls this tune over the mountain of difficult technical and epic parts while keeping up with the frenetic pace. The last song, “The Fall of Persephone,” is almost difficult to describe, it contains many rare elements to this genre, such as echoing and ringing notes. The band utilizes powerfully strummed chords here as well to make it almost have a ballad feel. The real deal of this song is that it’s a fantastic spoken word story that will be heard by many after multiple listens for the shear love of its rarity.
This group of musicians may have created yet another masterpiece to go along with some of their others. The originality of this material speaks volumes to the type of dedication and joy they have playing this music. With all this catchy, technical, and ripping music, what’s not to like for the fans? But let’s face it: some music fans will never enjoy classic New wave of British heavy metal music. So to them we say “go listen to the radio!” as we throw horns and pump fists as we blast music of this character!
