ninehertz

Satánico Pandemonium are on a steady routine of releases, keeping them fresh in your mind, which is most welcome with their brand of occult stoner/doom. We played them on our podcast back in 2021, they’ve been around at least a couple of years before then, and there’s been an average of a release a year since.

So this Muerte EP arriving is of no surprise; neither is that it is a joyous ride of fuzz laden, horror themed doom, not that we should take them for granted. From a rich recent Mexican history in the stoner/doom world, Satánico are from a darker corner to their peers, but not overly so to be typecast and generic in the way so many occult doom bands can be.

The nearest this gets to Electric Wizard worship is, slightly oddly, on the opening Ruin which is fuzz-rich and more on a stoner riff line that reminds me a little of the brief fast segment of Funeralopolis. The album has a surprising jubilant feel, out of the shadows more often than previously, so that a track like Sarna maligna can feel wild with garage rock fervour, unpredictable and electrifying with it.

The closing title track is a superb exhibition of airy, atmospheric, repeating doom groove, low and quiet on the cymbals, getting heavier as it goes. It caps a fine record from a band who have impressed for years now but seemingly still on the rise.