Something wicked from Herndon, Virginia this way comes. Raised on riffs and cult VHS flicks, Satan’s Satyrs combine the super-fuzz garage sensibilities of Detroit in ’65 and the heaviness of contemporary doom, and through a series of ultra-limited singles and EPs have become one of the most talked up underground bands of 2013. Just ask Roadburn Festival, they were so psyched to have them play that they performed twice, first as personally selected guests of Electric Wizard at the Electric Acid Orgy and then a day later performing a set completely dedicated to Blue Cheer.

Satan’s Satyrs will enter Inner Ear studios in Washington D.C in in the autumn of 2013 for an early 2014 release on Bad Omen in the UK & Europe and Trash King Productions in the USA.

A Bad Omen reissue of their debut album ‘Wild Beyond Belief’ will hit the stores in the UK & Europe on 23rd September 2013.

Wild Beyond Belief

Satan's Satyrs

SATAN'S SATYRS "Satan's Satyrs"

A focused and fat-free expression of pissed off, Tanked-up, Venomous Motorized fury, wrapped up in a first class 'iron fist in a velvet glove' production job, lending raw and dirty headbangers like Dead Set On Livin', Cash Whore and Shoot Ya Down a vital, resounding sonic heft. Firestorm coming closer, stick your fingers in your ears.... Now!

Knuckleduster

Cashwhore

ASOMVEL "Cash Whore"

Birth evolved from Astra, whose two albums for Rise Above Records - 2009’s ‘The Weirding’ and 2012’s ‘The Black Chord’ - had already reinvented classic sonic textures and mind-melds in lucid and intoxicating style. Conor Reilly and Brian Ellis nonetheless found themselves seeking out new life and new civilisations. Initially this led to a collaboration with Psicomagia’s Trevor Mast and Paul Marrone, although later Marrone (while he does play on ‘Born’) was replaced by Thomas DiBenedetto (of Sacri Monte, Joy and Monarch) as sparks began to fly in earnest.

The result has been a self-titled debut which combines a questing spirit with a dystopian take on the here and now.  Musically, whilst traces can be discerned of the dark and magisterial King Crimson of ‘Red’ herein, as well as the yearning cadences of early Yes and the delirious contortions of Van Der Graaf Generator, a whole host of influences made their presence felt in these mournful cadences, joyful solo passages and kinetic freakouts, from '70s mainstays like Aphrodites Child, Premiata Formeria Marconi and Area to the primitive folk of Robbie Basho and the symphonic soundtrack work of Osanna.

Born

BIRTH "For Yesterday"

the Bad Omen European pressing of this 7" contains exclusive b side 'Baphomet's Boogie"

black-souls.Bad-Omen-Records.com

Black Souls

SATAN'S SATYRS "Black Souls"

The discovery of WITCHFYNDE's Lost Tapes illuminates a fascinating missing link in the history of British heavy metal. In the lull between the Purple/Zeppelin/Sabbath revolution and the angry charge of punk rock and NWOBHM, in the East Midlands county town of Derby, four lads came together to create a tentatively progressive and intriguing new sound, and get heads banging in boozers all over the Peak District....

The Lost Tapes

Madame Noname

WITCHFYNDE "Madam Noname"

CC COMPANY "World Domination"

The 5-piece is inspired by the golden-era of Heavy Metal and Hard Rock, but they add a focused and slightly doomy, riff-heavy sound of their own. Expect short songs with catchy vocals, heavy riffs, soaring leads and bone-shaking bass, driven to the limit with pounding drums. A sound that fits somewhere after "classic" BLACK SABBATH, but before METALLICA's scene-defining debut.

AMULET "Running Out of Time"

Stealing a classic riff is easy enough, but commanding the ineffable spirit of an era is something far trickier, and this is exactly what Norway's Flight have managed with their brand new platter on Bad Omen. Above the time-honoured move of kicking off an eponymous debut album with an identically eponymous song, this youthful four-piece show themselves so adept at summoning the aura of the late New Wave Of British Heavy Metal in all its blue-collar, earthy glory that one could imagine this album sharing record rack space with 'Number Of The Beast', 'Diver Down' and 'Screaming For Vengeance'. 

FLIGHT "Flight"

Arriving from Herndon, Virginia in a psychic blizzard of garage-birthed fury and fuzz-crazed abandon, Satan's Satyrs stand proud as a malignant manifestation of all that's debauched and demented in heavy music. What's more, their incoming third album, 'Don't Deliver Us', beamed in from a metaphysical zone of over-amped '70s power trio action and exploitation-movie malice, may well be the most gory and glorious thing they've thus far wrenched into creation. 
 
A new wild outpost in a freakrock lineage that extends from Edgar Broughton Band and Blue Cheer through Alice Cooper, Mountain and beyond, this is a significantly more stripped down, raw and intense listen than its predecessor 'Die Screaming'. "We wanted to recapture the primitive thrust of rock 'n' roll to our sound" asserts frontman Clayton Burgess, also of Electric Wizard, who indeed recently achieved the considerable feat of completing a Stateside sell-out tour performing double-duty in both bands. ”That was an absolutely exhilarating experience for us in Satyrs,” he enthuses. “It made us so much tighter as musicians and bandmates. The rush of playing in front of so many people, we live for that.”
 
Indeed, not only have Satan’s Satyrs recovered the heinous in-the-red overload that characterised their debut cult classic ‘Wild Beyond Belief’, yet whilst that album was made entirely by Burgess himself, ‘Don’t Deliver Us’ boasts an electrifying band chemistry palpable throughout gonzo sonic debacles like the alarmingly catchy garage-stomper ‘(Won’t You Be My) Gravedancer’ and the Stoogian and stygian ‘Full Moon And Empty Veins’, which Clayton dubs a tongue-in-cheek ‘Dracula’s love song’. "When the three of us get together, it's loud and raw, no matter what we're playing.” he notes “If the last album was of the mind, this is of the body. These new tracks go for the throat, for the gut, and other areas". 
 
The cerebral realm that Satan’s Satyrs dwell in remains to the onlooker one of late-night exploitation and biker flicks, overflowing ashtrays and unfettered debauchery in all its forms. Yet Clayton, he whose personal aesthetic has dominated this band since its inception and whose grand guignol vocals morph the shamanic caw of Ozzy, the sneer of Alice and the heroically unfashionable influence of Stray’s Steve Gadd into one unholy whole, remains loath to place this untamed beast anywhere too specific just yet. 

“I don't want gimmicks to weigh this band down.” he emphasises “All I can say is that I've watched Tony Iommi rip into the opening chords of ‘War Pigs’ from 30 feet away. I've had Bobby Liebling look me straight in the eyes as he sang ‘All Your Sins’. I've had my hair stand on end and felt strange frissons from the music which means so much to me. My ultimate desire is to reach people in the same way with our music. That's what I strive for”

SATAN'S SATYRS "Full Moon and Empty Veins"

In the parallel universe where the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal happened 600 years early, WYTCH HAZEL are the band of choice for the discerning Plantagenet headbanger. The folk-rock eccentricity of Jethro Tull, the mystical harmony of Wishbone Ash & Thin Lizzy, and the exuberance of prime NWOBHM, immersed in sacred medieval influences via David Munrow's Early Music Consort of London; on their debut long-player Prelude, Lancastrian hard rockers WYTCH HAZEL have happened upon an extremely singular and compelling alchemy. 

WYTCH HAZEL 'We Will Be Strong'

WYTCH HAZEL 'Freedom Battle'

Lest we forget, doom metal stands for much more than merely a collection of Sabbathian riffs, funereal tempos and enormous amp-stacks. It’s a form of music that issues forth from the heart, the soul, and the gut. It can be an alchemical force that functions as a process of catharsis in times of need. What’s more, few know more about the power of this music than Karl Simon, formerly of the titanic and much-respected Gates Of Slumber, and now of Wretch, whose debut carries on valiantly with the mission he began some eighteen years ago. 
 
The making of this self-titled album marked both a renaissance and a crucial tonic for Simon himself - in the wake of the death of his close friend and Gates Of Slumber bandmate Jason McCash, he was forced to make sense of a profound loss, and the making of this debut formed a crucial part of this process, 
 
The new power-trio he formed with drummer Chris Gordon and bassist Bryce Clarke rose above their circumstances to issue forth a fearsome salvo of cast-iron riffage and heartfelt traditional metal heraldry, shot through with a steely conviction instilled by the experiences of recent days. “It is a new beginning, but I am what I am. I don't set out to write a style of music.” notes Simon, “This is what happens when I pick up a guitar”
 
“Making this record has been the hardest thing I've ever done” he adds. “Jason and I met just out of school and instantly became best friends. All of my memories as an adult feature him.  All of the songs on this record are about him, about me, about our drug use and his death. I'm not close to getting over the grief. In a lot of ways I've lost my mind. I hope that people are touched by the record - I am often on the verge of tears while playing..It's tough reliving those moments”
 
Heavy in sincerity and emotion rather than in pitch and tone, these  gritty yet grandiose songs may follow in the lineage and spirit of classic crusaders like Saint Vitus, The Obsessed and Cirith Ungol, yet the eerily thundering ‘Running Out Of Days’ and the downcast yet groove-laden ‘Icebound’  reach pinnacles of soulful intensity and emotional resonance. Meanwhile, a heroic essaying of Judas Priest's early classic 'Winter' sees Simon & Co. connect with Heavy Metal's most gnarled and vital roots. Defiant against all adversity, this debut stands proud as a fiery testimony to an indomitable spirit, one finding its way with grace and honesty through the trials and travails of the everyday. 
 
“The days of swords and sorcery are pretty much over for me” notes Karl”.  “No more giant spiders or Iceworms, There are real horrors that occupy my mind these days.”


Wretch

WRETCH 'Rest In Peace'

Wytch Hazel’s stellar 2016 debut Prelude confirmed these Lancastrian apprentice wizards to be Britain’s most promising new hard rock band. Two years on, that promise comes to abundant fruition on II: Sojourn, an album that moves Wytch Hazel on from the innocence and exuberance of the debut to a darker, more profound and complex place, carefully wrought into optimum shape by the band’s singer, guitarist, songwriter and mastermind Colin Hendra. “I’m really into the idea of an album,” notes Colin. “I don’t do mix-tapes, I don’t listen to singles, I’m interested in albums. I want to make a good, listenable, cohesive work, that is the whole thing.”
Since the release of Prelude Colin has become a father, a life-changing event that may explain the greater maturity and equilibrium to be found within the grooves of II: Sojourn, “a concept album, but not in the traditional sense,” Colin explains. “It’s quite strongly themed: side A is ‘The Plight’ and side B is ‘The Victory’. It goes from negative subject matter to something far more lifted, almost yin and yang really. Sides A and B are different works, but they’re meant to be together; the light highlights the dark.”

This double-edged concept manifests itself most satisfyingly in the thematic ‘mirroring’ of the tracklist. II: Sojourn begins with tight, nervy headbanger The Devil Is Here and ends with the solemn chamber melodies of Angel Take Me. Insanely catchy swashbucklers Still We Fight and Victory both address themes of battle, but the former has a war-weary melancholy and the latter a jubilant surge. Wait On The Wind broods with the threatening darkness of the elements, while tender ballad Barrow Hill celebrates their beauty and peace. 

Asked what inspirations were brought to bear this time, Colin has good news, and even better taste: “I was listening to plenty of Judas Priest, Thin Lizzy and Wishbone Ash last year,” remarks the frontman. “This seems to be more of a hard rock album, where the last one was more rock-folk. It’s definitely more rock than folk!” The most crucial influence fully expresses itself via Les Paul guitars in sweet twin harmony through cranked Super Lead Marshalls - “Exactly the same type of amp that Thin Lizzy would have used,” beams Colin - a benefit of working in James Atkinson’s Hand Of Law Studio, a converted gaolhouse in Leeds. “We knew there would be a lot more great gear, more amps, more options,” enthuses Colin of this productive new work environment. “We were more prepared, we planned better. I had a lot more vocals to record on this album, pretty much every song has at least three harmonies, but James is a really chilled out guy, he made it easy for us. I had a very clear idea of how I wanted each song to sound, I thought about every single aspect. I probably over-prepared for this album, and it paid off!”

Wytch Hazel’s proud, avowed Protestant Christianity continues to set them apart from the occult hocus-pocus of their peers, and the very title Sojourn has a Biblical inspiration: “It’s used a lot in the Old Testament, people would travel somewhere to stay for a short period of time,” explains Colin, comparing the idea to Wytch Hazel’s development since Prelude. “We’re going to reside here with this sound for a while, and the next album might not sound the same. Come and have a listen to this aspect of Wytch Hazel - it’s a temporary stay. We’ll be here for a while, then there will be something else. I’m always writing, it’s a constant stream, but I’m always trying to raise the bar, because I don’t want the next album to be not as good as the other ones!”

Bad Omen Records

Popular tracks