This is Moribund’s second reissue of American thrash band Satan’s Host. This album was first released in 2006. According to the press release this is mandatory for fans of Slayer, Behemoth, Dimmu Borgir and Nile. Being a fan of the early material of the first two and not a fan of the last two might explain why I am not finding this release mandatory.

Another reason is the 31 tracks, 1 hour and 10 minutes duration and difficulty I am finding in making it all the way through. Tracks twelve through twenty-nine are empty tracks designed to heighten the suspense while you wait for the supreme evil to be unleashed in the final two songs. In the booklet I count 12 songs with lyrics printed out of the 13, but for example track 1 is called “World Wide 9”, but track 13 has the lyrics of “World Wide 9 World Wide 9 World Wide 9 World Wide 9 World Wide 9 World Wide 9 World Wide 9…RRRAAAHHHhhhhh, Whaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh…” so I am not sure if the songs are in the same order as the booklet, but then I am not sure if it really matters.

The album starts off with Saturday night matinee evil voices proclaiming “we dedicate this hour onto all metal warriors…. legions worldwide…” etc. There are far too many pointless interludes and the campy evil voices get quite obnoxious, where are the Vincent Price voice clips? The monotonous snarl of a vocal delivery returns, as does simple drumming and basic death thrash with simplistic stereotypical satanic lyrics. The guitars are way too monotonous and as the drums get faster the guitars get even more redundant. Maybe if the riffs were interesting it would help. They need melodic leads to hold the songs together and there are not enough of them. These are ramble on songs with not really any cohesive structure. The vocals have no range and do not suit the music, which is trying to be expansive and melodic. Imagine if Conquer tried to play like Blind Guardian.

I find myself hoping for something interesting to come up, and it was almost worth waiting for track 30. Track 31 was worth it, with the slower pace, wicked riffs, rhythmic drumming with some precision and some clean chants, or maybe it is just because I suffered through the rest of the album. Staying with Moribund, you could pick up Blood Ritual Black Grimoire instead, far more satisfying.

Grimulfr

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