I have to confess, I have absolutely no idea what the deal with Satanic Warmaster is these days. Are they now a parody? Are they serious? Is it somewhere between the two? Lord Tyrant Werewolf’s unashamed ridiculousness and spandex-clad photoshoots for his Armour side project certainly lead this scribe to lean towards the former conclusion, particularly when confronted with the unfettered childish black metal lunacy of this latest SW album. Sitting through the hysterical, lo-fi, generic silliness that constitutes Nachzehrer whilst chuckling at the playground bicep-flexing preposterousness of the press release only further serves to fuel suspicions of deep pisstakery.
OK, perhaps this a little harsh. I’ll admit I’ve never been taken by the whole Satanic Warmaster vibe - indeed, I find their standing within the scene puzzling given that they/he have essentially made their career re-writing other people’s songs and then recording them on a 4-track - but I can’t deny the man can occasionally whip up a bit of a frosty storm on record. In this, ‘Nachzehrer’ is quite literally more of the same and Werewolf has once again decided to play it very much by his (or Darkthrone’s) rules. ‘Wrath of the Tyrant’-era Emperor shrieky vox, tried ‘n’ trusted ‘melodi-fizz’ guitars, cereal packet drums, it’s all here and ready to be digested by characters for whom black metal literally begins and ends with Darkthrone’s Transylvanian Hunger. Werewolf’s a clever chap and he’s put together a brace of decent tunes - ‘One Shining Star’ is suitably epic, ‘Satan’s Werewolf’ has a great central riff and ‘Warmaster Returns’ is absurdly catchy. Sadly, these stand shoulder-to-shoulder with what can only be described as total duds - ‘Vampires’ for example is an awful trudge, possibly (unnecessarily) paying homage to Mayhem’s Deathcrush and failing to provide any sense of menace. And no matter which way you slice it, ‘Rotting Ravens Blood’ is as dull as ditchwater.
There’s not a lot more for me to add to this really. If you like Satanic Warmaster then this album will certainly tick enough boxes to make it worth your while giving a few spins. As something of a nay-sayer, I find it difficult to take seriously. After 5-6 years, it’s disappointing to acknowledge that Werewolf is content to play it so safe. This kind of fuzzy, clattering ‘melod-o-black’ ceased to be edgy or extreme in the mid-Nineties and to those of us who have been lurking around since that period, ‘Nachzeher’ is the sonic equivalent of slipping on a pair of comfortable old slippers.
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