HELLHAMMER — Satanic Rites (review)

Demo · 1983 · Black Metal

3.5/5 · 2023-05-04
UMUR

"Satanic Rites" is the third demo by Swiss speed metal/thrash metal/black metal act Hellhammer. The demo was independently released in December 1983 through Prowling Death Records (the band´s own label) and was limited to 200 cassette tape copies. The material from the demo has since been reissued on the 2008 "Demon Entrails" compilation (Century Media Records).

Hellhammer recorded a massive amount of material (17 tracks in all) during their Grave Hill Bunker, June 10th and 11th, 1983 sessions, which was released on the June 1983 "Death Fiend" demo and the July 1983 "Triumph of Death" demo. The material showed a young and pretty amaturish band copying Motörhead and Venom mixing the blackened speed metal of the latter with hardcore punk elements. Both demos are crude, raw, and lo-fi recordings, which don´t show much promise, but only half a year down the line "Satanic Rites" shows a band who have developed greatly. It´s interesting to hear the four tracks which appeared in their original versions on the June/July 1983 demos ("Maniac", "Triumph of Death", "Reaper", and "Crucifixion"), which have been re-recorded for this demo, and sound quite a bit more intense, brutal, and aggressive in these new recorded versions.

While there´s still a hardcore/punk influence heard, the caustic aggression, intensity, and high energy performances now predominantly make this a blackened speed metal release. The vocals are raw and snarling, the drums are pounding out primitive animal aggression, and the guitars and the distorted bass play simple but effective aggressive riffs. I´d still mention Motörhead and Venom as primary influences, but Hellhammer are starting to form a more unique sound here.

One other feature which has been greatly improved upon since the first couple of demos is the sound production. "Satanic Rites" features a raw, but still clear and detailed sound production, where all instruments and vocals are clearly heard in the mix. The combined guitar and bass sound is just incredibly intense...almost seering in tone. I´m not sure if it was the intention that "Satanic Rites" should have been released as a full-length studio album, but somehow that project never came to fruitation (I´m speculating), but the fact is that the demo features 12 tracks and a total playing time of 46:11 minutes, which makes it an album length demo.

So upon conclusion "Satanic Rites" is a high quality demo release by Hellhammer. Considering that this is a late 1983 extreme metal demo it´s incredibly well sounding, the songwriting is memorable, and the musical performances are strong. Listening to the previous demo material by Hellhammer, I didn´t understand what all the fuzz was all about regarding Hellhammer, but listening to "Satanic Rites" the pieces certainly fall into place regarding how influential Hellhammer were on both the burgeoning speed/thrash/death, and black metal scenes. This demo is arguably a seminal extreme metal release. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.