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Satyricon > The Age of Nero > Reviews > MrLapinKulta
Satyricon - The Age of Nero

Reclaiming the blackened Throne - 90%

MrLapinKulta, December 5th, 2008

Black Rock would be quite a fitting description of what Satyricon has turned into over the course of their last few records. The rock factor doesn't have much to do with what would generally be perceived as rock n' roll but it comes into play when considering the hit-potential and general catchiness of the songs. Whatever the haters say though this is still black metal, no doubt about that. It is however NOT Norwegian black metal as it sounded back in the early 90's, far from it in fact. This album, as well as both Vulcano and Now, Diabolical!, is derived purely from old masters like Venom and Celtic Frost. The grinding riffs and the thundering drums hark back to the days when heavy metal was all about the power and glory of the riff and less about playing two million notes per minute over triggered blastbeats.

Satyricon's trump card is definitely the sheer catchiness of the songs themselves. There's not a song on here that's not instantly hummable. Again, here's a huge similarity with both Venom and Frost. Immediate favorites include Die by my Hand, which is just insanely catchy, and the pulverizing beast that is Commando!

I have no idea why black metallers these days seem to loathe Satyricon. Perhaps it's Satyr's pompous persona or just the fact that they've made the leap from the underground to metal stardom. If it's about them not being black metal enough I just don't get it. Listen to the old grand masters of the genre and fuck everything this side of the 80's. This is a kick ass album that black metal puritans will probably hate and that old-school metallers like myself will enjoy immensely.