SATYRICON — Satyricon (review)

Album · 2013 · Black Metal

4.5/5 · 2013-11-15
UMUR

"Satyricon" is the eponymously titled 8th full-length studio album and the first since "The Age of Nero" from 2008 by Norwegian black metal act Satyricon. The album was released through Roadrunner Records in September 2013. It´s not surprising that it has taken so long for the band to release a new album because Satyricon were always very conscious about making an artistic statement with each new release and less interested in how frequently they put out new material.

...and "Satyricon" is definitely in the catagory of artistic statements too. The music on the album is unmistakably the sound of Satyricon, which means heavy and at times epic sounding extreme metal with Satyr´s distinct sounding and commanding raspy vocals in front. Satyricon are usually associated with black metal and their early releases are widely considered "classics" in the genre, but they have moved further and further away from traditional black metal aestethics on now many albums, and that trend continues on "Satyricon". I´d call this heavy and commanding extreme metal with an occasional semi-progressive flair. The latter element sometimes makes me think of Enslaved.

"Satyricon" is quite a varied release and it´s enjoyable to hear how well the band master both heavy, blasting and even semi-thrashy parts. As a new thing in Satyricon´s universe they´ve opted to include a track solely featuring clean vocals, which is the "Phoenix" track. The clean vocals are sung by Sivert Høyem, who is a Norwegian rock singer, who has performed with acts like Madrugada and The Volunteers as well as releasing solo material. "Phoenix" stand out a lot from the other tracks on the album, but still flow well within the context of the album. I´d call "Phoenix" one of the highlights of the album along with tracks like "Tro og kraft" and "Our World, It Rumbles Tonight" (personally I enjoy the catchy black´n´roll of "Nekrohaven" too, but I understand that a track like that can be a showstopper for some). Satyricon are a stabile songwriting force though and the material on the album are strong throughout.

Everything on the album are sung and played by the two-piece of Satyr (bass, guitars, keyboards, vocals) and Frost (drums) except for a few guest appearances by Gildas Le Pape (Guitars) and as mentioned above by Sivert Høyem, who sings clean vocals on "Phoenix". The delivery is as always passionate, convincing and professional. Satyr´s vocals are aggressive and commanding and his arrangements sophisticated but still organic and catchy and the same decription can be applied to the drumming by Frost.

The sound production is less metallic than the case was on "The Age of Nero" and I guess it´s closer in sound to the sound production on "Now, Diabolical (2006)". That means a more earthy and organic sound production. It takes a bit of getting used to, as initial listens might suggest a lack of power, but more listens reveal an organic depth that suits the music well. To my ears the bass drums are a bit too low in the mix, but it´s not a major issue.

In fact there are very few issues with "Satyricon", which in almost every aspect is a quality release by Satyricon. The passionate delivery of the music is of course a great asset but it´s the well balanced and sophisticated songwriting, which is particularly strong on this album, that elevates "Satyricon" to a higher level. This is arguably the most memorable and well written Satyricon album since they started shifting gears towards a less black metal oriented style (and that´s not to belittle their other releases which are great too). A 4.5 star (90%) rating is deserved.