Episode 1 – Satan Made Me Do It (right click to download)

The first Satan Made Me Do It podcast is, in many ways, a statement; a declaration of war, if you will, and we’re taking no prisoners. Why should you care? Well, that depends on which side you’re on. You definitely won’t find much sympathy here if you care about any kind of nu-metal outfit, triggered drums, kiddie black metal, modern pop-ish sound and whatnot. We are, after all, very picky about how metal should sound. And fortunately we are not alone. The bands featured on this show prove exactly that.

Lend us your brains for the next 45 minutes. It will do wonders for your disposition. It will certainly help you coping with a shitty 9-to-5 job or dull commuting journeys. And, who knows, you might even find your new favorite band in the process. Sounds good? Yeah? Well, wait ‘till you fucking hear it!

No genre restrictions on this one. We go through thrash, black, death, crust, metal-punk… We like to keep it freestyle at any rate, but can’t promise we’ll always have such “varied” shows. Also, if you like a song, support the band by every means necessary. Buy their stuff, like them on Facebook, follow them on BandCamp and spread the message! Hell is all but lost if the bands making it happen are broke.

PLAY IT LOUD! Satan Made Me Do It highly recommends every listener to enjoy the show with a pair of decent headphones. High volume levels are equally advisable. *ANTI-WHITE EARBUDS BRIGADE*

We’ll be back every other Tuesday from now on. Tell your friends.

Click for our thoughts on this first episode and a complete tracklist.

Episode 1 – Satan Made Me Do It

Join us, join us!

Slayer‘s first album with Rick Rubin at the helm is particularly important because it manifested the most important transition of their career, which is to say, from the deliciously spicy blood sausage made of NWOBHM influences, pure hardcore punk raw energy and the demonic horror movies imagery – more fun than scary – of “Show No Mercy”, to the still unsurpassed and unbearable descent into the essence and aesthetic of evil of “Reign in Blood”, basically the blueprint for Slayer’s unique identity.

The intro of “Hell Awaits”, the first track on the self-titled album, sounded like a terribly disturbing invitation from Satan himself. You could tell, from the first second, that once that threshold was transposed, nothing would be the same in Metal. Pretty obvious stuff we’re saying here, but the fact remains: we could hardly think of a more iconic track to introduce you to the drumbeat to which Satan Made Me Do It will slave away to.

Prior to that, though, and just to get you in the right mood, you listened to “End Credits” (because in Satanism the end is the beginning), from the bloody giallo inspired electronica (uhhh, the heresy!) of Umberto.

We went straight to the jugular after “Hell Awaits”. Metal’s core genre is back with a vengeance, for amidst an endless sea of crap sounding retro thrash bands with modern production we saw the birth of giants. From Norway no less! Condor’s “Poetic Blasphemy” holds nothing back. It has it all: cool riffs, hellish vocals, raw production and just enough black metal to keep things interesting. Shouts to the Kolbotn Thrashers Union!

Now, at this point we could have just slowed things down to some doom tracks or something, but where’s the fun in that? After all there are posers to scare away, so we continued to move ONWARD TO THE PITS with Deathhammer’s “Fullmoon Sorcery”. “The stench of rotten corpses fills the air”, indeed… By the way, check out Black Magic’s fist LP when you have the chance.

“Evil Spells”, from Slayer’s arguably best disciples Morbid Angel, shows us everything that makes “Altars of Madness” such an absolute death metal masterpiece: an infectious riff, carefully implanted breakneck changes of pace, screaming guitars that would make Jeff Hanneman proud, and a brutal beating of a battery from one of Metal’s greatest performers. The ending is illustrative: a whirlwind of black magic that ends up emptying itself into a slow but infernal combustion. We’re left abandoned in the claustrophobic and dizzying dead-end of “Locked Room and Mirror Sequence”, from John Cameron’s soundtrack for “Psychomania”, a  horror movie from 1971 starring a devil-worshipping biker gang calling themselves “The Living Dead”.

We knew right from the start that the first Satan Made Me Do It episode required an Amebix crash course. Few bands are able to unite the metal and punk crowds quite like these dudes AND FOR GOOD FUCKING REASON! Praise the Internet for renewing the interest in the band. Apparently it’s not all porn and weird-ass fan-fiction. The word “obscure” has changed almost overnight thanks to the arrival of file sharing, but there is still TONS of great sounding shit out there waiting to be picked up. Good thing that Amebix is finally out there and properly recognized. Mayhem’s “Necrolust” was just a treat to all the old-school black metal fans. We don’t much care about Mayhem’s LPs (with the exception of Live in Leipzig, of course!), but the Deathcrush EP is still fucking nuts!

The bass work and the rock’n’roll/trashy riff are a sham, really. You immediately feel the urge to headbang and, heck, almost dance to it (the metal way, with proper air guitar playing, of course). But suddenly, they take the dance mat from under your and feet and you just feel like you have been pushed to a mosh pit, taking blows from all sides even before you realized where the first punch came from. This is how Terrorizer showed you that nothing has to be obvious, least of all in Death Metal. The hardcore influences are unmistakable and clearly welcome, giving us a nice excuse to honor the godfather of punk, Mr. Iggy Pop himself. He’s got a right to sing, goddammit, so fuck you and just tighten your teeth into this power outlet!

We’re almost done here, but guess what? There’s always time for metal-punk in this joint. English Dogs still don’t get enough credit. They belong right there alongside Discharge and GBH. Sure, metal took over their punk sound once Gizz Butt joined the band, but their 1984 album is mandatory if you live by English hardcore punk. We finish things up with a slightly more obscure act. Syphilitic Vaginas… You know it’s special when the band gets their name from a G.I.S.M. track haha ‘till next time! Death to the false!

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Tracklist

1. End Credits | Umberto (USA) | Night Has A Thousand Screams, 2012 http://umberto.bandcamp.com/
2. Hell Awaits | Slayer (USA) | Hell Awaits, 1985 http://www.slayer.net/
3. Poetic Blasphemy | Condor (NOR) | Speedwagon, 2011 http://condornorway.bandcamp.com/
4. Fullmoon Sorcery | Deathhammer (NOR) | Onward to the Pits, 2012 https://www.facebook.com/deathhammerofficial
5. Evil Spells | Morbid Angel (USA) | Altars of Madness, 1989 http://www.morbidangel.com/
6. Locked Room and Mirror Sequence | John Cameron (UK) | Psychomania OST, 1972
7. I.C.B.M. | Amebix (UK) | Monolith, 1987 http://amebixofficial.com/
8. Necrolust | Mayhem (NOR)| Deathcrush, 1987 http://www.thetruemayhem.com/
9. Fear of Napalm  | Terrorizer (USA) |World Downfall, 1989 http://www.terrorizergrindcore.net/
10. I Got A Right | Iggy & The Stooges (USA) | I Got A Right,1977 http://www.iggyandthestoogesmusic.com/
11. Spoils of War | English Dogs (UK) | Invasion of the Porky Men, 1984 https://myspace.com/englishdogsmusic
12. Black Sorcery | Syphilitic Vaginas (SWE/JAP) | Black Motor Covenant, 2008 https://myspace.com/officialsyphiliticvaginas