Strength & Honour

Satanic Warmaster belong to these (more or less one man) bands that seemingly never deliver low quality albums, but they also will probably never reach the highest levels. Werwolf, the mastermind behind the project, is able to write very good songs, but the last step, the final touch of ultimate excellence is missing from my point of view. Nevertheless, the debut “Strength & Honour” shows that he has been a competent composer right from the start. His songs do not lack maturity and signs of awkwardness are completely missing.

The seven tracks teach us another lesson of malicious, grim black metal. There are not many breaks and surprising twists and turns have gone lost between the rehearsal room and the sound studio. Given this situation, the songs are quickly decipherable, but fortunately not predictable. The drums set a fast pace, the guitars pick up this tempo and Werwolf’s vocals add a bitter note. Generally speaking, maybe five or ten percent more depth would have helped the songs to become real black metal gems. Nevertheless, there are truly fascinating details to find in some of them. The opening guitar line of the title track draws the listener into the song right from the get-go and the more or less atmospheric, keyboards-supported part in my personal highlight “A New Black Order” also leaves a sustainable flavour.

Homogeneity is written in big letters over “Strength & Honour”. The songs are by no means interchangeable, but even the blindest chicken can recognise their common origin. Unfortunately, the same animal cannot completely ignore the politically more than dubious lyrics as well. “Enthroned Aryan spirit, the resurrection of our Reich”, did the good man sleep in history lesson? On the other hand, provocation is a wide spread stylistic device in the genre and I don’t want to take this gossip too seriously. “Der schwarze Orden”, a synonym of Hitler’s SS, is, as expected, another lyrical disaster. I don’t enjoy this antisemitic nonsense, to say the least, but fortunately it is the pretty cold and quite strong music that characterises the full-length. Ultimately, we are talking about a music album and not a book of poetry.

The closer “Night of Retribution” marks a great finale. Its opening guitar line is as effective as the one of the title track. The entire guitar performance conveys a merciless aura, because the production has been done very well for this album. I like these productions that walk the fine line between underground atmosphere and professional appearance. “Strength & Honour” (fortunately not “Blood & Honour”!) does not lack pressure and creates a permanent aura of ominous twilight. No doubt, this is, despite its lyrical trials and tribulations, a recommendable debut and its spiritual connection to the works of bands like Horna or Malum is definitely a good thing.

Straight out of the depths of Finland, the very controversial Satanic Warmaster has blasted the ears of many black metal fanatics including myself with some of the most frost-bitten, cold, and evil black metal this genre has to offer. Formed around 1998, the sole original member and the only member of the band left Larui (aka Werwolf as I’ll refer to him from now on) has been relentlessly putting out music for this band and other projects for the past 25 years. They along with Goatmoon, Horna, Sargeist, and Behexen are at the forefront/ the leaders of the Finnish black metal scene. This debut album in particular is a major reason why this band continues to face harsh controversy, mostly due to this album’s lyrical content leaning toward National Socialism (your opinions on these types of lyrics are up for you to decide), but personally, Satanic Warmaster isn’t a straight up NSBM band to me. Yes, they have some questionable song titles and lyrics, but overall that’s not their main topic. But enough with that bullshit and on to the music.

This album is easily one of their rawest albums to date, filled with simplistic drum beats and sections. Blast beats are a staple on here, 85% of the time they blast away with the fast tremolo riffage. Also containing raw necro guitar riffs that’ll pound your skull into oblivion, but the riffs are hooky and catchy which makes them easily memorable. Werwolf's vocals are especially harsh and In your face throughout the entire record, they have this very howling effect on them that makes Werwolf's vocals so cold and grim. When it comes to songwriting it’s a very simplistic and minimalistic album, yet it’s executed so well and written in such a catchy way that the music sticks with you. The music is just so foul and aggressive, the primal energy on this album is top-notch. Synthesizers are used on this album too, mainly when the music takes a slow or mid-paced turn, there’s also surprisingly a lot of melody at times, especially with the melodic riffs being played alongside the synthesizers, adding to the ambiance. This album along with the sophomore album are the only albums to feature 2 members, Werwolf handling vocal, drums, and bass guitar duties, and Lord War Torech playing guitars.

“The Burning Eyes of the Werewolf” is a standout track within the album. Beginning with a very hooky mid-paced riff before immediately transitioning into the blast beats, a very Burzum-like section comes into play shortly afterward, the vocals on this track especially are harsh and abrasive. I can describe all of the songs In a very similar way, very cold, harsh, intense, and very memorable straight forward raw black metal. My favorite song is easily “Wolves of Blood and Iron”, a slow epic mid-paced number, with most of the characteristics you would associate with this album played at their absolute best. The slow-paced section of the song is the most memorable part of the whole album, the ambiance of the section is at its most captivating and prominent. The atmosphere is another thing worth mentioning, it has this old school second wave black metal charm while also keeping true to the Finnish black metal sound. You can definitely hear second-wave influences within the tremolos used frequently throughout most of this album's run time. There’s also a use of syncopation with the rhythms of the guitars and drums, with adds to the catchiness of the songs.

With 7 tracks and a run time of 41 minutes and 32 seconds, there’s no compromise, there’s nothing complex and flashy to see on this album. It’s balls to the wall, intense, cold raw black metal. This album is easily one of my favorites in Satanic Warmaster’s catalog, not a lot of bands hit it out of the park with their debut album. And Satanic Warmaster definitely did.

The quality of the "Strength & Honor" recording is not very good, putting it mildly. Nothing of the kind, it's disgusting. And it should be noted that even in those years it was possible to record material much better. This reissue of the album also includes as a bonus the songs from the demo of the pre-Satanic Warmaster project, recorded even earlier, back in 1999 – and they are much better in quality. It's amusingly and symbolic. It's symbolic in the sense that if "Strength & Honor" was recorded well, then it might not have become a black metal classic.

Like many other albums of this category, "Strength & Honor" is unique due to its inconsistence. Yes, this is dirty and raw black metal, but this work has an basilisk harmony. The melodies on the album are rigorous and exacting, at the same time distinctive: they seem to want to crawl into your insides. A kind of infernal solemnity reigns in riffs, enhanced by the hateful grainy vocals.

That's right, through the lens of musicality, this is a strong work. Even the first song "Raging Winter", which is built on two minimalistic riffs, doesn't seem primitive. Let alone the rest – there are more fastidious parts in the later songs on the album. However, following the pattern of the first composition, high-speed fragments constantly alternate in them with episodes in mid-tempo, creating the appearance of an elaborate and interesting structure. This effect becomes stronger when the song contains a slow atmospheric bridge with the minimalistic keyboards, such as in "Raging Winter" and the next "A New Black Order". As for the first case, the "sliding" riff makes this bridge amazing.

For what it's worth, it should be noted that "Raging Winter" was recorded more or less acceptably, while all subsequent compositions are worse in quality – at the very least, it's more difficult to understand the guitar part in them. On "Strength & Honor", guitars are processed with a powerful reverb effect, therefore their sound became more "blurry". Visceral, as if dissatisfied with something, bass often produces an almost "punk-ish" clang – it's good for the "dirt" in the sound, but really bad for the atmosphere. The kick drum thumps like a cardboard box, really, so the double kick drumming, a little shambling, often drowns out the whole music. These guys did their very best to record so badly.

A considerable part of the compositions is based on Scandinavian-style tremolo riffs, the most striking examples are the second song "A New Black Order", the third "The Burning Eyes of the Werewolf", the fourth "Strength and Honor", and the sixth "Der schwarze Orden". However, "The Burning Eyes of the Werewolf" is much more remarkable for other elements that can be chalked up to the Finnish black metal account: it starts with a fingerpicking performed with some kind of "punk-ish" easiness, followed by a mid-tempo syncopated rhythm accompanied by a downstroke picking. Well, without going much into detail, Finnish black metal is more unbridled and reckless compared to Swedish and Norwegian black metal (after all, we're talking about Scandinavia, not about the Scandinavian peninsula). The difference between these genres is quite noticeable, and "Strength & Honor" makes it clear. Strictly speaking, this is one of those "inconsistencies" that were hinted at above.

The fifth song "Wolves of Blood and Iron" is even more indicative in this sense: it begins with a fast "inspiring" Finnish riff, and at 2:23 a slow epic bridge follows, which can actually be called as a trademark of Satanic Warmaster. The subsequent variations with this bridge, including the minimalistic keyboards arrangement again, make "Wolves of Blood and Iron" the best song on the album. This is a paragon.

Finnish black metal also sounds distinctly in the seventh song "Night of Retribution", the syncopated parts of which are perhaps the most malicious on the album. Alas, the "branded" Finnish sound has, of course, its downside, and it often appears on "Strength & Honor". Namely – almost pure punk. Not just a "punk-ish" element that has been mentioned many times here (well, this is more or less acceptable), but almost pure punk. The eighth "Legion Werwolf" sounds like a cover of some punk band: the bass has a certainly punk part, and the guitar solos sound sometimes like soft punk, sometimes like spasmodic heavy metal. This is the worst song on the album, but it's also exactly what Satanic Warmaster is – there is nothing to be done.

Bonuses. Actually, in this case, bonuses should not be reviewed, because who ever heard of such a thing that bonuses are recorded better than the album? As usual, they were recorded before the album, of course. Nevertheless, the drums are more accurate and steady here; the bass was recorded without clanking, it has a rather mellow sound that doesn't interfere with the black metal atmosphere; guitars also have a cleaner sound. Although this project is called Blutrache, but it is the same Satanic Warmaster, although more "darkthronish": the tenth song "Eternal War", which includes a classic slow bridge with primitive keyboards, demonstrates this definitely. In the eleventh track "Marching Towards the New Aeon", the influence of Gorgoroth is noticeable on the slow episode, however, here there is also "branded" Finnish black metal, noted above – fervent and evil. The twelfth song "Die Rache des Heidenbluts" is pure RAC, and it's disgusting. Yes, this is also Satanic Warmaster in all its pristine glory, there is no escape from this.

This album is fucking superb. Cold, yet at times beautiful riffage that really sticks with you. All coming from the single member of the band, Satanic Tyrant Werwolf, whom is a genius beneath the ludicrous moniker. So, since I've already mentioned them: the riffs. Some are straight forward, trem picked with rapid speed, but at the times the riffs slow themselves down, and become oddly melodic. It may seem out of place, but these riffs are actually among some of my favorite on the album. These more slow, melodic riffs are seen prominently on the song "A New Black Order". As per usual with a Satanic Warmaster album, the riffs are my favorite part. The guitar tone is very treble heavy (not a surprise given it's a black metal release) and really suits the cathartic feel of the album. Nothing for me to complain about on that front. But the damn bass on this album, fucking non-existent. I know, I know, "black metal is supposed to be treble heavy, so a bass is pointless" I hear you say. Sure, that is true but I'd still like to actually hear it in most cases.

Next up: the drumming. The drums on this album are fucking killer. Honestly, probably one of my favorite in terms of black metal. As with most, they are cymbal heavy. Another thing I like is that they aren't always full throttle. This is a problem I see rampant in a lot of death metal releases: the drumming never really slows down allowing for a break in the stretch of similarity. On this album, however, the drumming slows when the riffage slows. It's more of a minor thing, but it goes a long way in terms of experience.

Finally, the vocals. Unholy butt-fucking Jesus, the vocals. They're shrieks of pain, anger and straight from hell. Not a single complaint from me on the vocals.

Overall, this is an outstanding album, and probably my favorite of Satanic Warmaster's catalogue. It's cold, evil and anguished.
Favorite songs: Der Schwarze Orden, A New Black Order