SATAN’S HOST – By The Hands Of The Devil

“Satan laughing, spreads his wings”. There is little chance that you didn’t know that famous line from the godfathers of Heavy Metal. For those who are reading this line for the first time, it was written by Black Sabbath for the old “War Pigs” hit. The connection to Satan’s Host is mostly directed towards all that surrounds Satan. It might be an obsession, but in a weird way it gave birth to a new evil along with powerful music that let it loose. By The Hands Of The Devil is not the first issue of Satan’s Host and surely these guys can’t be considered as the inventors of the wheel, but they did make their mark on blackened Heavy Metal.

Satan’s Host has always been a side project of the one called Leviathan Thisiren. Thisiren is actually Harry “The Tyrant” Conklin, the vocalist of Jag Panzer/Titan Force fame. This project has been laying around since 1977 only to release a satanic debut in 1986 with Metal From Hell. After Metal From Hell, and right before the release of the band’s second album, Midnight Wind, The Tyrant left to form the Heavy Metal band Titan Force. The band continued without him, yet, it was never the same. However, 2010 marked the hellish return of Leviathan Thisiren to the vocal post.

Aside from being respected from his ventures with Jag Panzer and the “on hold” Titan Force, Conklin gave back Satan’s Host their rightful evilness. Although this guy is no Black Metal growler, the band with him feels satanic in an atmospheric way more than it did without him. Moreover, with Satan’s Host you might notice how truly powerful and diverse Conklin’s voice really is. Some of the better works as “Black Hilted Knife” and “Revival” marked the importance of Conklin’s return and his influence on the band’s music. However, not only Conklin’s return made an impact on this release. Conklin’s crew on Satan’s Host, in particular the band’s constant guitarist Patrick Evil, played in superb form. These guys were enormous in their playing abilities. Playing such powerful extreme Metal music along with undeniable Heavy Metal crackers is not a walk in the park and here their experience screams its guts out.

As for the evil themes, one can look to the past. Mercyful Fate and Venom, as examples, took their Heavy Metal music into a troublesome theme. However, that same theme was a part of Metal’s history and foundation. The connection to Satanism is what usually black, evil, red and sinister were in many ways one of the greatest interests of Heavy Metal. Those two famous bands gave classic NWOBHM the first groundwork of what we know as Black Metal. So you probably ask what is so important or what more is there to say about Satan or Satanism or anything like that? Well, quite a lot as it seems.

In the case of Satan’s Host, especially on By The Hands Of The Devil, it’s actually Black/Death Metal (partially Norwegian) music with both modern and old school twists, with clean yet upstart melodic vocal patterns. This pack of devilish wolves destroyed with other amazing hitters as “Fallen Angel”, “By The Hands Of The Devil”, “Before The Flame” and “Inferior Worlds”. Such an astounding mixture between classic Metal vocals and extreme sophisticated music is the band’s most remarkable achievement. Although the entire material does not bring a ticket to hell and back, this release is the closest thing to a true marriage between heaven and hell, and not in the way Virgin Steele once put it.

Tracklist

1. By The Hands Of The Devil
2. Shades Of The Unlight
3. Demontia
4. Before The Flame
5. Bleeding Hearts Of The Damned
6. Black Hilted Knife
7. Revival
8. Fallen Angel
9. Inferior Worlds
10. Norwegian Wood

Lineup

Leviathan Thisiren (aka Harry “The Tyrant ” Conklin) – Vocals
Patrick Evil – Guitar
Evil Little Hobbit (aka Anthony Lopez) – Drums
Margar (aka Marcus Garcia) – Bass