A band from the north-east of England, Satan are among the last few credible NWOBHM acts that Metallica have yet to cover. Indeed, Satan’s 1983 debut Court In The Act remains an unsung benchmark of the genre, although it did them little good.
In 2011 the CITA line-up reunited at Germany’s Keep It True Festival, performing together for the first time in 28 years. Sufficient unfinished business remained to inspire this unexpectedly strong studio comeback.
Still built on the robust fluency of guitarists Steve Ramsey and Russ Tippins, Time To Die and the haunting Another Universe continue to employ vigorous time changes, without sacrificing melody. Equally crucially, Ross hits all of the high notes. If it sounds like the quintet have been cryogenically frozen, diehard Satan-ists won’t complain.
