REVIEW: SATURDAY NIGHT SATAN – “ALL THINGS BLACK”

Emerging like a shadow from the underground, Saturday Night Satan is an occult doom heavy metal band hailing from Greece, a country infamous for its dark metal tradition.
Based on the artistic endeavours of a core duo—Kate Soulthorn on vocals and Jim Kotsis on bass, guitars, and backing vocals, who is also a member of the traditional heavy metal band Black Soul Horde— Saturday Night Satan began as a studio project.

Now, it also boasts a live show incarnation consisting of experienced and long-time members of the Greek underground scene.
The Athenian collective draws inspiration from the masterpiece albums of their favorite decades in heavy music, offering 70’s proto-metal vibes, 80’s metal grooves and riffage, and 90’s heavy rock heaviness. Influenced by the occult rock movement, horror cinema, and all things dark and gloomy, Saturday Night Satan, with the release of their debut endeavor “All Things Black,” is intricately carving out its niche in the world of heavy metal.

REVIEW:

Spawning from the Athenian metal hive – a renowned incubator of countless bands, record labels and prominent festivals, the dynamic duet under the quirky name of SATURDAY NIGHT SATAN is a new find for me and without any prejudice rushing to find out their musical take on the omnipresent themes like satanism, demons and all that is occult. It’s “5AM”, the alarm clock red display and drilling buzz are torturing your senses. SATURDAY NIGHT SATAN begin their march with that opener and the first thing that catches the ears are the mellow melodic vocals of the leading lady Kate.

The guitar work is steady, rhythm section supportive and a naughty 80ties synths are sneaking in the background. I find this track pretty groovy and although after the second verse we witness more distorted sound, some mechanical voices and squealing screams toward the end, it’s the kind of tune I would expect to hear on one of them generic rock stations, that still are on air in plenty of countries. Captivating kick-off and now even more curious what’s cooking next!?

“Rule With Fire” greets us with a classic hard-rock intro spiced with notable 80ties flavour, filled with spiralling riffs and retro bass vibrations. 30 seconds deep the tempo slows down to open space for way more wicked and vile singing, compared to the opener. Definitely here the vocal work takes centre stage, leading the dark parade of witchcraft. Don’t be fooled by this, there is a plenty of instrumental splendour happening as a framework, surfacing in the flaming solo that bursts out after the 3:30 minute mark. Naturally calming down to a rhythm guitar line, we spot couple of variations to break the pattern before the song comes to a close.

On number three we find “Devil In Disguise”, coming with an exotic main theme riff, one where all the instruments play their distinguished role both in harmony and with a witty asynchrony. That one carries a certain pop-rock taste and needless to say that again the vocal delivery is out of this world. Now I realise that great portion of that mesmerising effect could be explained with the excellent level on which the recording has been produced. Jumping from verse to verse on a vessel of playful guitar solo work is a common stylistic, however in this instance, musical bridges are delightfully vibrant and distinct one to another. Voice work is ringing all throughout the track, reaching climax just before the final chorus and stepping down, giving back to a fade-away guitar outro. Mark my words – this song could make a killer music video and with the proper script and director, to become an overnight smash hit.

Title track time, folks! “All Things Black” opens with a spooky synthesizer orchestration, swiftly replaced by the pumping lyrics of the first verse. One could physically feel how the lead singer is building the momentum here, to detonate moments later in a disarmingly beautiful chorus, in a style which I would label as “modernistic” and wide-spread in clearly commercial rock styles. Do I approve that or not is of little significance, yet the effect is undeniably striking, leaving me with slightly dizzy feeling of delight. The song accelerates pace, taking me out of this state and charging ahead, vigorously pushing to clash in the second chorus with mightier discharge of vocal stamina, irreversibly turning “all things black”.

Taking breath for half a minute along a pacifying guitar line and here we go again – fast solo drumming clears the path for the final punch of the band. No compromises allowed and time to let the instruments rest, slowly melting away. By now, things with this album are just getting better and better, and in all honesty, with compositions like this, SATURDAY NIGHT SATAN easily blows away the majority of the female-led formations that infest radio air and video screens nowadays.

¨Lurking In The Shadows¨ is a well deserved name for the next in line as it fills the atmosphere with already familiar notions of notorious vileness, precisely the effect a doom formation would pursuit in its act. A relatively slow-pacer, melodious disposition of the vocals, mixed with synthetic sounds, decorated with a sturdy, singalong chorus present us with probably the most emotional piece to this point. The narration nearing the end amplifies the doomy mood, intentionally creating a low point, to contrast with the final discharge.

Somewhere “By The River” we float into the second half of the album, carried on a raft of exquisitely arranged intro, a delicate fusion of acoustic chords and weeping solo guitar. Minute and a half deep, that finesse gets disrupted by the drums taking their proper place, without completely shattering the overall balladic construct of the song. There is a piercing perception of power coming out of the lyrics here, feeling like a prayer and a curse at the same time, dualistic by form and feminine by nature. Once more a fade-away closure brings everything to a dissolving end, bit prematurely if you ask me, yet true to the band’s style.

“Crown Of Arrogance” welcomes us with a playful party rhythm, an expressive classic hard-rock initial riff and the well known vox mastery of the front lady. All things equal, this track happens to be the easiest to digest and unlike those so far, the hero of the day here happens to be the guitar solo right after the middle, which without being something utterly ingenious, sticks out from the overall tunnel vision. An extra detail that I could identify, that is not something that surfaces so easily it’s the cunning way the title of the song is slipped in some part of the lyrics, different from the chorus. A covert accent, that call for several takes of listening in order to detect.

Moving along, comes the moment for that “Witch’s Dance” that will shake, twist and turn the sentiment, engaging with ticking cymbals and guitar sustain, topped with moody vocals to invigorate everything around. All of a sudden, a hailstorm of instrumental mastery is released upon us, the drum section gets way bolder, teased by a bumblebee bass to channelize all that intensity toward the first chorus eruption. Small tricky bits and composition pieces come in handy to craft a spellbinding frame of that penultimate track, speaking of remarkable creative imagination. Arriving to the interlude that opens with a signature solo, soon into a mini-symphony, guillotined by a withering scream, heralding the culmination of the infernal pirouettes.

Time to say farewell with “Of Love And The Void” laying before us a red carpet of serene acoustic guitar intro, gracefully accompanied by a heavenly flute and angelic chanting. True to their calling, SATURDAY NIGHT SATAN can’t stand still, changing the tempo soon enough into a pacy banger to elude any boredom, gently easing up again in the second verse. That roller-coaster ride turns to be a revitalising tool for the senses, providing an exotic “touch and feel” of lavishness till the very last note.

CONCLUSION:

As a disclaimer I must state being no aficionado or connoisseur, approached the work of SATURDAY NIGHT SATAN with zero bias or any expectations whatsoever. And with an overdose of personal surprise, I admit I liked it. A lot. The authors here have come upon a winning formula between traditional hard-rock sound, spiced with doom condiment and contemporary style of compositions, designed for wider audience and destined to a commercial success.

The vocal flamboyance of Kate Soulthorn is the ace in this deck, however the instrumental and arrangement prowess of her accomplice Jim Kotsis contribute equally to the final output, which is really worthy of massive accolade. If only the second half of the album, could match the initial portion of songs in terms of charm and appeal, that would have been a real hit in the bull’s eye for any musical label.

TheNwothm Score: 8/10