Review by Carl on July 18, 2026.

Better butter up that butthole of yours, because after listening to this short slice of blackened brutality, I can only assume that this band is made up of types that don't do things in any way nice or sensitive, let alone subtle.

The Satan's Scourge (TSS from here on) deal in a form of vicious and immensely aggressive black metal that is solely aimed at maximum impact. It would go too far to label them as war metal, they are simply too 'riff-y' for that, but TSS easily rivals any band from that particular scene when it comes to intensity. These guys simply let loose on the brakes, completely eschewing the concept of subtlety for practically the whole runtime of this compilation. Their style of blasting velocity colliding with vicious tremelo picked savagery and raw cawing vocalisations finds a sweet and cosy place between the early works of bands like Antaeus and Impaled Nazarene, with this last one even receiving a tribute in the form of a cover. Although the majority of the material simply plows forth in an almost demented jackhammer fashion, it must be noted that between all the relentlessly grinding black metal guitar rage, we do get some occasional old school riffing that is influenced by the likes of first wave black metal units such as Sarcofago, Venom, and Bathory, another band getting the cover treatment here. In the big picture, you might not notice it because of the violent execution at play here, but it does lend the material a touch of variation, somewhat lightening the relentless full-on attack. All this is rolled up in a pretty tight and surprisingly transparent production, ensuring that the violence at play comes blasting out of the speakers in a clear but still harsh way, not sacrificing one iota of the intensity offered up.

Although I'm all up for this type of stuff, I do still have some criticism here, not aimed at the music, but rather at the overall presentation. I'm basically nitpicking here, but one intro that goes on just that bit too long, two instrumentals, and two covers on a CD that lasts some 23 minutes, that irks me a bit. I would've preferred to hear more of their own material here. Again, this is no disaster in any way; the aggression on offer makes me forget this pretty quickly, but still ... A guy needs something to bitch about, right?

If you're into massively aggressive black metal with a smidgen of thrash sprinkled in, you need to check out these guys. There's absolutely no reinventing the wheel here, but any band that knows how to rip it up as these guys do, that most certainly deserves to be heard in my opinion.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10