By now it’s not a secret that Finland spews out some incredible Black Metal. I could sit here and name check every band and that would be boring as fuck. I’m guilty of it, and since I realize that I’m excluded from persecution and it’s usually in my introduction where I pull that shit anyway. It’s April Fool’s Day and if I was a dick I’d pull some shit here but I’m not going to, because as I listen to Satanic North with their self-titled tour de force it has become impossible to do that. I’m deep in the weeds here friends and neighbors.

This is one of those albums that you play for that friend who says they listen to everything. This is raw as a skinned deer and bristling with grisly bits Black Metal. Evident with the opener, the aptly named “War” a fierce blaze of fury that would make Marduk blush.

Petri Lindroos (Ensiferum, Warmen) and Janne Parviainen (Ensiferum) have come together to construct an incredible slab of Black Metal and with tracks like “Village” with it’s vicious crawl, afterwards they explode into some huge melodic blasting passages that slide back into the demonic crawl and then the blast for the finish line.

“Hatred and Blasphemy” follows in, but it’s “Four Demons” and the cracking riff near the end of the track that caught my ear in a hook. “Vultures” gets progressive with a Falkenbach style bruiser that I absolutely dig. They even throw a head-rattling blast entwined with some Thrashing bits over the chorus “tear my soul APART!” The track ends with a church bell and the force of nature that is “Wolf” comes striding in over a quick Blackened Thrash riff and into an ear-bending mid-track blast bit reminiscent of 1349 and their Liberation album, yes I know they’re Norwegian…

“Kohti Koulemaa” is by far my favorite track, it’s one of those songs that grabs you by the gizzards when you least expect it. At the 2:52 point, there’s a badass bass solo leading into epic chaos, they easily go into a pummeling ending to this epic almost Darkthrone-ish riff near the end. This being their debut there’s a song called “Satanic North” a rather punk-ish Thrasher that reminds me of Venom’s “Black Metal” without being Venom’s “Black Metal.”

This album is fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. An original outing that has it’s own identity while paying homage to the Black Metal formula of the 90s. Not to reinvent the wheel, but put spikes on that bitch so that it can shred and destroy. They are Satanic North and you’re not!

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