Making a rough but streamlined hybrid of war metal riffing and later thrash like SOD, Satanic Panic seemed to aim to capitalize on the recent resurrection of the 1980s trend of blaming “Satan” for every human stupidity, replacing climate change, racism, Communism, cults, and other bogeymen.

This sounds almost like a weekend side project by members of Immolation and Deceased because these songs, based sparsely around a handful of related riffs in familiar very basic form like output from Master or Comecon, flow so well and capitalize on the charge behind their rhythm and limited modal patterns.

Each song remains distinct and, while the whole album charges ahead at high tempo like a war metal, retains listenability by using a distinctive pattern for its verse riff that cued the creation of other riffs, making the songs fit together well and express a simple, basic, and un-angsty cynical rage.

Tags: satanic panic, War Metal