“Volcano’s” material was written and released in 2002 now seeing distribution for the states in 2004 with a video included for the track “Fuel for Hatred”.   Black Metal has a commonality amongst the bands of the genre, with lyrical topics involving Satanism, the occult, and generally dealing with the imperfections of Christianity and the Holy (here Unholy) Bible. 

Satyricon tackle the same demonic ground while their music offering an amalgamation of styles known in Black Metal.  They use all the elements like rapid fire guitars, evil vocal tones, and varying blast beats merging them together into songs that are mood filled and wicked in nature.  A quality that many bands of the scene suffer from is the repetitiveness that comes with the territory, something Satyricon avoid in many aspects.

 For example take the tune “Angstridden” featuring segments of traditional blast beats to a mid tempo intro riff while incorporating several tempo changes.  Also note the very haunting almost cinematic keyboard segment that is perfect for ironically the upcoming prequel to “The Exorcist, The Beginning”.  

On “Volcano”, Satyricon take even a page from the Dimmu Borgir book on “Possessed” with killer riffs, catchy verses and grooving rhythm, a little something from Celtic Frost on “Suffering the Tyrants”, and I also hear an influence of Dark Funeral at times (“Mental Mercury”).   No wonder it’s a good album given the three bands I just mentioned. 

This release is one of the strongest and well varied offerings to be placed at the altar of Black Metal and something that should appeal to more than just fans of the genre.