Satriarch cover artwork

Rating: 7.3

Country: USA

Release Date: 2007

Track list:
1. The Death of Divinity
2. Exiled Into Oblivion
3. Divine Retribution
4. Decadence

Band Website: Satriarch

Satriarch - Self Titled EP

Rachel Centeno “Lady Death”: Vocals
Mick Rodriguez: Guitars
Alex Rosas: Guitars/Studio Bass
Esteban Garza: Keyboard
Matt Potter: Drums

Symphonic black metal. The image this term conjures up involves sugary keyboards and soft tremolo guitar droning along generically somewhere in the background. Since this thankfully isn't applicable in the slightest with the demo currently under review, one wonders why they would saddle themselves with such a descriptor. Dimmu Borgir this is not (again thankfully).

The first thing one probably notices once this American five piece starts playing is the full-bodied, crunchy guitars, belting out crushing riffs holding the middle between black, death, doom and thrash metal, slanting most towards the black metal spectrum, especially past the halfway point of the disc. Especially awesome are the traditional metal inspired solos and lead-parts that pop up surprisingly often. Drums are not stand-out, but strong enough and the bass probably follows the guitars, providing for that deep, full-bodied sound of the riffs. Of special note is vocalist Lady Death, whose growls and snarls don't do under for her male counter-parts, while still sounding undoubtedly feminine, which I feel is a great touch. We need more female vocalists in extreme metal! Of course, readers are probably wondering at this point why on Earth Satriarch would name itself symphonic black metal, when I focus so much on the riffs here. The short answer here is the omnipresent keyboard providing classically inspired backing synth-lines.

“But Mr. Reviewer Guy, you just told us that symphonic black metal was an inadequate description and now talk about omnipresent keyboards... what gives?”

Well, I find it a bit hard to put my finger on, but despite the fact that there is literally no guitar-part unaccompanied by synths, I still would hesitate to put this unqualified into the sympho bm category, because the balance between synth and guitar is done far more tastefully than is usual in that sub-genre, placing the guitars upfront, and the atmosphere as such doesn't really evoke the traditional pseudo-gothic or faux-classical aesthetic that I associate with the Dimmu clones of the world. One could remove the synths and still have an excellent demo on hand here, while on the other hand, the synths are intricate and imaginitive enough that they are more than a superfluous addition. They do contribute to the atmosphere in their own way, without turning it into faggotry. They also make it so that Satriarch is not a dime-in-a-dozen demo-band, they already have their own sound going here.

So, if this sounds at all intriguing, hop on over to their myspace and give them a listen!

March 24th, 2008