In November of 2010 I was an undergraduate student at University of Maryland College Park and had joined their college radio station WMUC as a DJ. In addition to radio shows, WMUC staff also regularly brought in bands to the station to play live on a segment called Third Rail Radio, and a buddy of mine had booked Satan’s Satyrs at a very early point in their career to play. In came three high school aged guys with one of their fathers, and despite their young age and relatively unknown status (at least for me), they proceeded to play a particularly gnarly and appealing take on doom, punk, and proto-metal. That session and the subsequent studio interview was later pressed to a limited run of cassette tapes, though I’ve personally not heard it myself, but it wouldn’t be long after that founder Clayton Burgess would release Lucifer Lives! and Wild Beyond Belief, catapulting the band into the spotlight. They’d later expand into a full lineup and become a regular opener on a lot of relevant Washington D.C. and Baltimore area shows. Each album saw Satan’s Satyrs explore different elements of 60s, 70s, and 80s hard rock and metal, and their notoriety in the underground only seemed to increase with every release. But following Burgess’ brief time in Electric Wizard the group quietly disbanded somewhere around 2019, and its members have been pretty quiet in the time since. But just as quietly as that disbandment had happened, Satan’s Satyrs re-emerged last year seemingly out of nowhere with a new lineup and the Quick Quiet Raid EP. Keeping the momentum going, the group now presents listeners with full-length number five, After Dark, which keeps the raw, garage type production but explores an even wider range of rock and heavy metal influences.
One of my favorite aspects of Satan’s Satyrs is how deep their range of influences is. What may have started as a love for bands like Black Flag and Electric Wizard soon gave way to material that had as much as common with Blue Cheer as those groups, and even some glam on 2018’s The Lucky Ones. After Dark definitely leans a bit more towards psychedelic rock as well as classic hard rock and rock ‘n roll than before, but there’s still that punk and proto-metal edge to many of the songs. The production values keep that same raw and retro sound, giving it a very live in studio or even live in someone’s garage feel, as things have been kept purposefully noisy and you have to sometimes work to make out the details. But this is where Satan’s Satyrs once again understands the rawer qualities of older rock ‘n roll didn’t mean things sounded bad, and they’ve found that fine balance between noisiness and catchiness. On the songwriting front it feels like Burgess has pulled a little bit from each past album while still adding some new elements. Opener “Hellin’ It Like It Is” has a very 60s and 70s rock ‘n roll feel with some added punk and proto-metal attitude, while “Deadly Again” transitions over to more of a hazy psychedelic rock vibe. With each track you’re never quite sure what you’re in for, whether that be a 60s rock meets punk riff or something a bit slower and mellower that still has an abrasive edge thanks to the noise level. But one of the most interesting songs After Dark has to offer is arguably “Genuine Turquoise”, which feels like a 50’s or 60’s rock ballad that’s been tonally distorted to sound much stranger and almost haunting. There are a few moments that are a bit rough around the edges and don’t quite come together, like the sloppier intro of “Saltair Burns” and the overstretched “The Afterdark/Mattressback”, but there’s still so much to like here and I had a smile on my face for much of the run-time.
Satan’s Satyrs vocals have changed significantly over time, as they came through as more of a yell/scream early on but Burgess seemed to pivot more towards singing and a lot more swagger on more recent efforts. This made sense given the glam influences on The Lucky Ones, and the approach has once again shifted on After Dark. Opener “Hellin’ It Like It Is” finds Burgess going for a higher register that reminds me a lot of earlier Iggy Pop circa The Stooges along with a number of garage rock singers. Where the last album had a bit more clarity on the vocal front, here Satan’s Satyrs has purposefully buried Burgess in the wall of noise. Sometimes this works to their advantage, especially when he just barely breaks through and steals the spotlight on songs like “Deadly Again” and “Quick Quiet Raid”, but there are others where he was just too buried for my taste. Burgess doesn’t just stick with the same pitch the way through though, On “Iron & Ivy” he goes for a lower register that has more of a blues rock tone, while “Genuine Turquoise” ups the distortion and sounds a bit creepy (which I’m not sure if this is intentional or not). There has always been this wild and free feel to the vocal performance on all of Satan’s Satyrs material that added to the appeal, and it’s great that After Dark continues this trend.
From those early days in 2010 until their initial disbandment in 2018, I really enjoyed watching how Satan’s Satyrs grew as a band and how wide their musical styles were, as they occupied this space between metal, punk, and rock ‘n roll that was decidedly retro but took things in different and interesting directions. With their reformed lineup in 2024 they’ve continued to explore, touching upon just as much psychedelic rock and early garage rock as those core influences, making this yet another wild ride from beginning to end. It isn’t quite my favorite of their discography as there are a few missteps and the vocals are a bit too buried on some songs for my tastes, but this is still such a fun and diverse listen that I’ve hit the repeat button frequently. In any case, it’s exciting to have Clayton and company active again and I can’t wait to hear what curve ball they throw my way next. After Dark is available from Tee Pee Records.
-Review by Chris Dahlberg