Apparently “SATAN’S WRATH is the only band in the world in communication with thy master through ceremonial black magic and necromantic rituals” and “one member (of the band) alone controls 13 satanic covens worldwide and organizes the most hideous Sabbaths which our lord graces in the form of the black goat”. Whoever their friends in high (or low) places are, they make frighteningly terrific music.

The Greek two-piece are a great cocktail made up of Thrash, Death and Traditional metal with an obvious Satanic angle. Vocals, Drums and Bass duties are all taken on by Tas Danazoglou on the record. His vocals are the asset that really seal the deal for ‘Galloping Blasphemy‘ though. His growl just stands out from the music enough in a breathless sprint. Stamos K ensures the music is top notch by adding the slicing guitar solos and frantic thrash riffs to the mix. The production is left deliberately basic which gives it that NWOBHM raw feel and you can’t help but be reminded of Venom when you put this on,

It’s far from a Venom tribute, there’s all sorts in the melting pot here. The Trad metal riffs on ‘Hail Tritone, Hail Lucifer’ are timeless. There’s more than enough ‘Bay Area’ Thrash inspired music too with certain thunder and rain soundbytes sounding as though they could have been lifted straight off ‘Reign in Blood’. They conjure up a much more doom-ridden overall sound than the Thrash bands ever did in the end. Obviously, Sabbath can be plucked out but even darker influences come to light at certain points.

As you’d expect, lyrical and song title themes are heavy on the Satanic side of things. ‘One Thousand Goats in Sodom’ and ‘Slaves of the Inverted Cross’ are a couple of examples. Their imagery is also of the horned and inverted variety to suit. Whether that is your thing or not, you cannot deny that Satan’s Wrath have come up with a superb album here. The title track could well have been lifted from an early Iron Maiden album and even though you’ll be constantly drawing comparisons to a wide variety of bands throughout the album; ‘Galloping Blasphemy’ is good enough and authentic enough to hold it’s own.

Children of Satan rejoice!

9/10

‘Galloping Blasphemy’ is out on Metal Blade Records now!

Rob W