Sathanas - Flesh For The Devil (2005)

Sathanas are a band that I have followed through out their entire career, which has been quite a stellar one. Their brand of blackened death with thrash elements are well written and performed and quite heavy. They know how to get your head banging and always leave you wanting more. They are a band unknown to many, but have also achieved a huge cult following since their formation in 1988. Sathanas are a band that are worth your attention. Sathanas, who are generally a three piece band, brought in a second guitarist on this EP by the name of Wayne Dudley to give the band a much more heavier sound, but he was gone after this release.

One thing this six song EP has going for it is catchy and heavy head banging songs, which is the band's specialty. This is evident in the opening track, "Invocation", which starts of with a little spoken intro and then you are slammed with in your face with heavy riffs, thick pulsating bass and drums that will pound the flesh off your body. The title track is a fist pumping rager and when you get to the verse of "She wants the darkness...", you are treated to some great drum and bass assault before the riff come back into play that will send you into a raging head banging fury. The band also put in a worthy performance in covering the Slaughter classic, "Nocturnal Hell". The band stay true to the original feel, but still adding their style to make it sound like their own song, which I always like when a band decides to cover a song. Also of note, bassist Bill Davidson does all of the lead vocals on this cover song, which I think works better than Paul Tucker, who is the main vocalist of Sathanas, putting his raspy style on the song. The last song on the EP, "Unholy War", I think is the perfect way to close out this release with its slower, but still heavy approach. "Possessessed By Blasphemy" and "Reign Of The Antichrist" also execute some great riffing and vocal performances, with the latter having a great black metal riff for the last verse.

By the end of the day, this EP will leave you in a heaping pile of flesh at the end of it's run. You get six songs on this release and they all have staying power. They are well written and executed. The production of the EP is also top notch as everything can be heard clearly and not one thing tries to dominate the other, which has always been something I've also liked about Sathanas. The instrumentation and the vocals all get their time to shine. So, if you are new to Sathanas, I'd say start with this and then work from there for whatever you want to get next from them. If you are a long time fan of the band and don't have this EP yet, then I am sure it will be added to your collection in due time.