Artist: Satanic Warmaster
Country: Finland
Label: Werewolf Records
Formats: LP / Cassette tape / CD
Year: 2022
Despite coming somewhat later to the party after formation in 1998, the mark of Satanic Warmaster on the Finnish Black Metal scene is considerable. With albums such as ‘Strength and Honour’ and ‘Carelian Satanist Madness’ the band helped shape what we consider the typical Finnish Black Metal sound. In that discography, the last album, ‘Fimbulwinter’, stands tall and proud, but featured a somewhat different approach to the Satanic Warmaster formula. Since its release in 2014 the wait for a new full length has been extensive, but in April 2022 the drought was ended when ‘Bafomet’, a CD single, announced the coming of ‘Aamongandr’. That highly anticipated sixth full-length has finally arrived in late December 2022 on CD and in April 2023 for those patient enough to wait for the vinyl edition.
In the previewed track ‘Bafomet’ we could hear a sound that was very close to that of ‘Fimbulwinter’, and it’s safe to say that applies to the entirety of ‘Aamongandr’. That is not to say the latest record is an exact copy. First of all, the guitar tone on the newest album is a tad sharper, giving the album a slightly more grim and icy tone. There appears to be slightly more room for the guitar melodies and leads, such as for instance in the mighty ‘Duke’s Ride’. That song can be counted amongst the album highlights, featuring the blazing Black Metal with subcutaneous melodies that we have come to expect from Satanic Warmaster supplemented with a short ambient interlude and synthesizers that sound distinctly Norwegian in its symphonic approach. The synths are used in a more accenting role in ‘Beserk Death’, one of the more melancholic tracks on the album with interesting rhythms and an epic undertone. In general, there is a slightly more epic feeling to ‘Amongandr’ compared to ‘Fimbulwinter’, but both albums largely overlap in their take on Black Metal with room for melody. The exception is closing track ‘Barbas X Aamon’, a midpaced more atmospheric track with haunting keys and extended growls that make it one of the more brooding songs on the album.
With ‘Aamongandr’, Satanic Warmaster continues on the path of ‘Fimbulwinter’, taking a slightly more epic yet at the same time grimmer approach to the sound of the band. While not exactly the same as ‘Carelian Satanist Madness’ or any of the earliest material, the band shows once again they have so much more to offer to the genre. It may have been an eight year period until a new full length of the band surfaced, but it was well worth the wait, as Satanic Warmaster once again shows they are one of the undisputed leaders of the Finnish Black Metal scene.
