The fiery spirit that is heavy metal is something that doesn’t easily leave the heart of a musician, and there are some acts out there who have been performing it for decades. But over the course of over thirty-five years, sometimes you want to do something different or life simply has other things in mind. Satan is a classic act that was a little on-and-off until since 1979 before reuniting seven years ago, and it’s all those years that have culminated into the grand display that is this passionate album.

Whenever I hear a band that does classic heavy metal really well, I can’t help but think of Manowar because that’s my personal favorite of all the classic heavy acts in that style, but I’ve been slowly broadening my horizons with the real classics band by band. I heard a word here and there about Satan years ago when they put out their last record, but it’s with “Cruel Magic” that I finally sat down and really checked out what these veterans can dish out after so long. As it turns out, nothing to scoff at by any means. I wasn’t into “Cruel Magic” at first, but upon a second investigation I found something that really made these ten tracks feel so good and such a refresher that I really haven’t heard since Grave Digger’s “Healed by Metal”. Maybe it’s the classic feel to everything that still incorporates plenty of modern techniques to raise the quality tenfold or the true magic that is classic heavy metal being on full, unashamed display with these ten tracks that grace “Cruel Magic” from beginning to end. There’s so much more to this record that Satan pain-stakingly incorporates into every moment of “Cruel Magic” to really allow the record to rise above what many bands even half the age of Satan manage to create even once.

It’s no understatement to call “Cruel Magic” and Satan one of the last great bastions of heavy metal that have been standing since the small days of the genre, and it’s not hard to see why. Satan is truly passionate about their brand of heavy metal and you can really hear it in every moment of “Cruel Magic” to where it pours over into your very soul by the end of this tremendous record.

“Cruel Magic” releases on September 7th via Metal Blade Records!

LISTEN to advanced tracks from “Cruel Magic” on Bandcamp here.

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FOLLOW Satan on Twitter: @SatanUK