siLLy puPPy Almost two decades into the 21st century black metal has taken a wild ride into many disparate channels of creative outlets with some merging with other genres such as Oranssi Pazuzu effectively becoming psychedelic black metal while others are intent on never leaving the second wave of the 90s and insist on remaining kvlter than kvlt and in the dungeon for eternity. Such is the case with the Dutch underground black metal outfit SATANIC BLOOD which exists in the same demo ridden dungeons that pretty much every other 90s act emerged from, however in the case of this band, they seem to never want to leave. In 2003 they released one 2-track demo and then this one so-called full release SATAN BOVEN ALLES in 2004 before releasing another live album and then breaking up and fading into the abyss from whence they emerged.

While the music itself is a fairly familiar romp through the extreme cauldrons of vileness and dark arts mythos, what really helps them stand out from the crowd are the ridiculously long band member names as well as the titles of the tracks that look more like entire paragraphs in a murder mystery novel. Just check out THESE monstrously long band member names: Radiant Death Bringer of the Serpent Daily (bass), Destroyer of Souls Who Fell Into the Yawning Abyss of Eternal Chaos (drums), Unholy Sodomizer of the Virgin Lambs (guitars) and Masturbating God on the Stench of Burning Death on vocals. Well, ok now!

Also check out the song tracks such as “When Betraying Those Travelling on the Infernal Paths of Devil Worship and Satanic Dogmatism, Be Prepared to Bleed for Their Hatred as Its Consequence.” And who says kvlter-than-thou-ism is dead? LOL. Stylistically this is some fairly wicked stuff and probably reminds me most of Deathspell Omega only utilizing only the lowest of fidelity techniques for that truly sickened maggot crawling feel of hellish dungeon pit black metal. Musically the band churns along a rather monotonous guitar and bass driven riffing that serves as the main freneticism to the mix while the drums are actually more subdued with only the cymbals emerging from the din. There are lots of beastly noises that emerge from the pits of hell only to prove that they are suffering in eternal agony as the band provides the soundtrack to their utter fiery dismay.

Masturbating God’s vocal style is more of a narrative one as he utters indecipherable prose over the musical madness but not in sync which is where the Deathspell Omega comparisons come in. The entire musical section is nothing more than a backdrop to his angry rants about who know’s what. What i like about this one is that the tracks all have a steady flow but are distinct from each other and the drumming style is totally unlike what’s usually heard in black metal. There are only sporadic blastbeats and hyperactively fueled hate. Instead the percussion churns along in a mesmerizing fashion as if there is a sense of surrender to the dark forces that the band members have been inured to however there are periodic episodes of heavy percussive attack that do emerge from the muddy murk, it’s just that they are usually subdued while the cymbal action is more pronounced. While this style has been done to death, i really love it when it’s done well and SATANIC BLOOD provides a flawless falling from the heaven’s into the eternal bloodbath’s of hell by checking off all the extreme second wave checklists and then adding an extra dose of SATAN. Love the beastly moans and groans as well!