Sitting down and listening to punk has always been a bit of an odd thing for me because I feel two things make for a great record of the genre: (1) that feel of a band just rocking the fuck out in their basement or garage laying out riff after riff, and (2) the fierce attitude of a “go fuck yourself” mentality that permeates every moment. That being said, it’s not often that I find a record in the world of punk that takes the two and then makes something good out of it, but here we return to a true rarity for the genre where everything that could’ve gone right has happened. It’s with Devil Master that I return to a corner of punk that I’ve heard plenty of times before, but never on such a scale as what we’ve gotten with their new album.

Punk has long been something that I’ve been trying to get more into but, like grind, it’s difficult for me to find a solid gateway band that then provides me with the right stuff that makes me want to seek out more from the genre. For grind it’s been Cattle Decapitation, for one corner of punk in the form of crossover thrash it’s Iron Reagan, and now in another section of the same genre where the worlds of punk and black metal begin to cross, it’s Devil Master that has risen from the depths of Philadelphia to deliver me what’s easily the most intoxicating and euphoria display of the style that I’ve heard heard! It was with their compilation a few months ago that raised my eyebrows and caught my attention with their evil riffage and devilishly seductive tracks, but now it’s with their upcoming debut full-length of “Satan Spits on Children of Light” that we get an album that’s just as deliciously blasphemous as it is an absolute ripper of an album!

Even taking black metal into consideration with all of its raw forms to sift through, “Satan Spits on Children of Light” is easily one of the most colorful examples of the style that I’ve ever heard, and it’s with the fusion of punk that Devil Master has created something truly special that’s too fiery to put down and too massive to simply let pass by without hearing just one of those euphoric riffs. And just hearing one is never enough as the worm that is Devil Master rapidly borrows into your brain so that before you know it you’re jamming out to every rip of the strings, every bellow of the vocals, and every defiant beat of the drums that never know when to quit. Everything from all that excellence wrapped in constant energy that coats every moment of “Satan Spits on Children of Light” with a consistent pulse that draws you in even closer as peeks of occult psychedelia and the most vicious of guitarwork brings you to no less than enraptured by what Devil Master has wrought with these fiery thirteen tracks. But then Devil Master manages to accomplish the feat of truly making you want to come back for more as each song simply has so fucking much jam-packed into each moment that a single spin of this record would be a true disservice – nay, a crime! – to the glory on full display here to treat it as such.

There’s so much power, surprising mastery, and excellence the kind only the true underground can produce to go around with that I really have to stop myself from saying much more because otherwise I’d sit here all fucking day and tell you to listen to what Devil Master has created here. In every fucking possible form, “Satan Spits on Children of Light” is the evil, vicious, fast, and uncompromising album of its kind that truly must be heard no matter what!

“Satan Spits on Children of Light” releases on March 1st via Relapse Records!

LISTEN to advanced tracks from “Satan Spits on Children of Light” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Devil Master on Facebook here.