Death Metal, by definition is a genre about... Well, death. At some point down the road there was also the declaration that the vocals must be gutteral, guitars must be tuned down, drums must be this, this must be that, whatever. So since there's such strict rules with what Death Metal can "officially" be we are here today to look at SATYRASIS and their new album "...Of The Dead" and most importantly, does it Metal? The standard for good Death Metal is always rising, there are very few Death Metal bands that become overnight successes the way other bands in Metal can. In an ever growing horde of bands, let's see what SATYRASIS have to offer.

"...Of The Dead" offers us a 9 song album, with most songs exceeding 6 minutes in length. The final song on the album is 11 minutes and the album doesn't feel like it drags on, which is shocking because even for someone who absolutely loves ENSLAVED, even I can feel like their songs drag on sometimes. Just because the album doesn't drag on doesn't make it memorable though, let's talk about that aspect. Clean slate what can I remember simply from listen to the album a couple times? Well, "The Imp Of The Perverse" starts with some guy sounding like he's reading you the title of something, and "Warwhore" is one of the most out of control, insane, strange and all around fun songs I've heard in a while. The song belts out some crazy instrumentals you can barely follow, mixed with alien and video game sounds here and there and bass you can actually hear! After some Space Invaders (I think) game over noise the song gets heavy, super heavy. At this point, the song sounds like Eddie Van Halen playing over DETHKLOK's "Go Into The Water" and its fucking awesome!! Pardon my French, we Canadians tend to let it slip. Some gunshots follow and the song slowly transitions into quiet nothingness.. All quiet on the western front. "Warwhore" definitely makes this album worth checking out, but if it doesn't do it enough for you then how about the start of their final song "In Ruin" being some crazy jazz beat that you can't begin to understand.

In terms of songs, this album isn't lacking at all. How about production? People in Metal tend to be indecisive on if they like production on albums. This album can be over produced and that album can be not produced enough, no one is ever pleased until either NECROPHAGIST release a new album or Half Life 3 is released. This album sounds well produced, I don't quite understand the term "over produced" but this album is what I like about where we are with technology, early Death Metal you can't tell some guitar sounds from vocals or drums or hear certain things because it wasn't produced quite right. This album, you can actually hear everything, all the instrumentals shine and it sounds great which is a bonus.

So, let's take a breather, give SATYRASIS a chance because they're not the Death Metal average and everyone can have a good time while listening to them because you'll never know what to expect. SATYRASIS understand how to write something unique, which in Death Metal is a rare talent. Well done.