SATAN: North American Shows To Be Recorded For Possible Live Album

This Friday, April 11, New Wave Of British Heavy Metal legends SATAN will play their first-ever show in the USA. 34 years after the band's formation in Newcastle Upon Tyne, they will headline a three-band event in New York City to kick off the U.S East Coast leg of their "Live Sentence World Tour". All six North American shows — including those in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Baltimore, Maryland; Richmond, Virginia; Worcester, Massachusetts; and Montreal, Quebec, Canada — will be recorded for a possible live album release.

The SATAN members are still buzzing from recent dates in Europe and South America and have promised "life-changing" performances for those long-neglected North American fans.

Midwest and West Coast dates are currently being lined up for October.

SATAN North American tour dates:

April 11 - Brooklyn, NY - Black Bear Bar
April 12 - Montreal, QC - Katacombes
April 13 - Worcester, MA - Ralph's Rock Diner
April 14 - Philadelphia, PA - Kung Fu Necktie
April 15 - Richmond, VA - Strange Matter
April 16 - Baltimore, MD - The Metro Gallery

SATAN's latest album, "Life Sentence", was released on April 29, 2013 in Europe and May 21, 2013 in the U.S. via Listenable Records. The cover artwork for the effort was drawn by Eliran Kantor (TESTAMENT, HATEBREED, SODOM) and depicts a similar graphic concept as that of the band's debut album, "Court In The Act", originally issued 30 years ago.

"Life Sentence" was mixed by Dario Mollo, who is part of TONY MARTIN'S HEADLESS CROSS touring project and has worked with numerous artists as a producer and engineer, including SKYCLAD, ANATHEMA, CRADLE OF FILTH, LACUNA COIL, Tony Martin and Glenn Hughes. The CD was recorded September-November 2012 at First Avenue Studios in Newcastle, England and was mixed and mastered by Mollo at Damage Inc. Studio in Italy. The songs deal with the following topics: injustice, impending death, reincarnation, atonement, third-world politics, and biblical retribution.

"Life Sentence" is the culmination of a process that began when the original "Court In The Act" lineup got together for an exclusive "one-off" reunion show at Germany's Keep It True festival in 2011 in what marked their first performance together in 28 years. The band was somewhat overwhelmed with the response — 10 minutes into headliners CRIMSON GLORY's set, the crowd could still be heard chanting, "Satan! Satan!" The SATAN bandmembers immediately booked more shows in Germany, Holland, Belgium and London, and have since kept in close contact with each other, writing songs and making demos.

The recording lineup for "Life Sentence" was the same as that on "Court In The Act":

Brian Ross (vocals)
Steve Ramsey (guitar)
Russ Tippins (guitar)
Graeme English (bass)
Sean Taylor (drums)

SATAN is one of the most important groups that emerged in the early NWOBHM era. Their unique mixture of heavy and power metal spirit with thrash riffage brought a handful of unforgettable tunes and revolutionized heavy music as we know it.

"Court in the Act" was SATAN's debut release and was considered a true milestone at the time of its release (1983). The songs were melodic, but at the same time very aggressive. The band's two guitarists, Russ Tippins and Steve Ramsey, delivered a truly amazing performance; although their styles were completely different, they managed to perfectly complement each other's playing and introduced a handful of timeless riffs and solos.

A digipack reissue of "Court In The Act" was made available in November 2008 featuring three bonus tracks.

Fan-filmed video footage of SATAN performing on June 8, 2013 at the Sweden Rock Festival in Sölvesborg, Sweden can be seen below.