By: John Reppion
Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 19/10/2018
Label: Bad Omen Records |
RidingEasy
Records
“The Lucky Ones” CD//DD//LP track listing:
1).
Thrill of the City
2).
The Lucky Ones
3).
She Beast
4).
Take It and Run
5).
You and Your Boots
6).
Too Early to Fold
7).
Pulp Star
8).
Trampled by Angels
9).
Permanent Darknes
The Review:
What
if, rather than dying in that car-crash in 1977, Marc Bolan had
instead taken over guitar and vocal duties in Angel Witch, and decided they needed to tune
down to couple of steps? It’s something we’ve all pondered, I’m sure, but
thanks to Satan’s
Satyrs we need wonder no longer.
“The
Lucky Ones” is
the fourth full length from the Virginia quartet, following their
split EP with tour-mates Windhand, released on Relapse Records earlier this year. Once again the garage
rock/proto-punk influences of MC5, Blue Cheer, Ziggy Stardust era Bowie, and all the
rest, clash head on with NWOHBM dual guitars and chunky, swaggering
Cock Rock riffs.
What are Satan's Satyrs? Are
they a Glam Punk band? That sounds a bit shit. Are they a Retro Rock band? That
sounds ever shitter. But they're undeniably a band whose sound, look, and
attitude is rooted in the 1970s. Of course, the same could be said
for a lot of bands in 2018, but Satan's Satyrs are a lot more The Sweet than Sabbath.
“Thrill
of the City” is
a tyre-screeching Stooges-like
opener, with tasty Thin
Lizzy twin lead work from Nate Towle and Jarrett
Nettnin. “The Lucky Ones” like
a raw, garage cover-version of some unlikely song you've definitely heard
before, but somehow can't remember the name of. “She Beast”’s main
riff is a weighty, sleazy Southern Rock strut with Clayton
Burgess' chunky bass grunting away octaves below his pouty, boy-Bowie
vocals.
“Take
it and Run” is
an acoustic driven number, equal parts Lizzy, T-Rex, and Ziggy. “You and Your Boots”' fat,
chugging verses give way to straight up rock n roll choruses, with unashamedly
triumphant leads which wouldn't sound out of place on a track by The Darkness. “Too
Early to Fold”, similarly sounds like it could be some raw, rough
and ready pre-“Permission to Land” lost demo.
There's
more than a whiff of early Guns N Roses throughout the record, but “Pulp
Star” is pretty much straight up L.A. Hard Rock. “Trampled
by Angels” sounds exactly like it's being performed
(mimed to, I suppose) on a 1978 Christmas edition of Top of the Pops. “Permanent
Darkness” is the most thoroughly NWOBHM sounding track
on “The Lucky Ones” and, as such, it's a strong closer
– bringing the kitch levels down several notches.
So,
to return to the question, what are Satan’s Satyrs? Is it possible to be a brand
new Classic Rock band? Even if it is, that’s still not quite right in terms of
describing what they’re up to. They’re more like a brand new proto-Classic Rock
band – a band capturing the sound and energy of what happened in venues
like The Rainbow in London in the lead up to the dull, grey 1980s, and the dawn
of Stadium Rock proper. Sweaty, urgent, cocksure, and raw; as much as
I can list all these forty-odd year old bands and artists that Satan's Satyrs undeniably
sound like, there’s no sense that they’re a mere pastiche of what’s gone
before. Whatever exactly it is that they’re actually doing, whatever you want
to call it, they seem to be the only ones out there doing it right now, and
they’re doing it well.
“The
Lucky Ones” is available HERE
