In a career that has spanned over three decades, Denver’s Satan’s Host have gone the opposite route of most of their ‘old-time’ contemporaries but upping the extremity and brutality. Formed in the early 80’s, Satan’s Host was a part of the early thrash/power scene that produced Jag Panzer. After enjoying minor underground success, the band went on hiatus in 1988, only to return in 2000 to wreak havoc once again.
Now, given the context in which Satan’s Host was borne, the method in which they now operate is all the more commendable given just how swift and pummeling their newest offering, Great American Scapegoat 666 is. A healthy spread of mid-90’s meat and potatoes death metal, melded with the aura of black metal, Great American Scapegoat is exactly the kind of American black/death metal album we needed for ’08.
In one of the more decidedly Satanic bits Blistering has run, singer Eli Elixir filled in us on the band’s reformation, the new album, their ideals, and a witches brew of several other tantalizing topics…
Blistering.com: How fun has this rebirth been? I know you’ve been reformed since 2000, but it seems that only recently Satan’s Host has been getting its just due…
Elixir : Well, it has been a life enduring labor of love, shall we say. There are good times, as with the bad. Some years more productive than others, though through it all we have remained true to our Satanic metal from Hell. Consummately writing, producing and recording new material, as with putting a modern twist on some of our older tracks from years past. True, we began releasing new material once again in the late 90's actually. This was the beginning of the "New Generation of Satan's Host." Never compromising our vision of what we expect, out of each other, and ourselves as a collective whole. Greatness! Now in these times, we are enjoying the fact that Satan's Host, as with the metal is getting the recognition that this Legacy has worked very hard to achieve. More importantly, now with the help of Moribund Cult, the fans are able to get the CD's and enjoy the metal music that we have been manifesting. That is truly the greatest reward for us.
Blistering.com: Obviously, metal is a lot different now than it was back in the mid-80’s. For you, what are some of those glaring differences?
Elixir: I am going to stay on the music/metal side of this question, not the business end. For the most part would be the art of drumming. With the evolution of the double kicks, snare blasting, hellish attack on the instrument as a whole. This alone has catapulted the whole of what a metal band can create, as with the intensity in the music. Production would be another positive, in these times of the now, it truly brings the instruments into a whole new realm of clarity for the listeners. Evolve or Die! Technique and technology, this will push the levels of the artist into what has never been before. This is what metal needs, more innovators, without the fear of hybridizing the two, so as too achieve a new level of greatness for Metal...666 Tonality of the guitars, more bottom end as with the structuring of compositions. More evolved in the realms of power, yet some still remain true to the classic structuring, with lead breaks and mosh riffs. Basically the whole of evolution in this realm - metal, with all the new sub-genres and forever new areas that this form is going into. I believe that now is the most exciting time for the art of metal music.
Blistering.com: During that downtime, what were you guys up to? Did you stay involved and/or interested in the scene?
Elixir: We were involved in the metal, embracing the ever present change within this grotto. Writing new material, getting prepared for auditioning a new drummer, as with a bassist, let alone trying to find a place too rehearse and compose the material as a full group. We have always done our own thing, on our own terms, at our own speed. We are fans of Metal, so we are always in tune with what goes on in the world of metal.
Blistering.com: Satan’s Host embodies the underground DIY ethic. How have you been able to make this work largely without the support of a label?
Elixir: Yes, we do embody this way of thinking....philosophy. Always have and always will. In order to get things done correctly the first time, one must believe, and do it yourself! Mainly with the belief in ourselves and what we are doing: Satanic Metal 666.
Blistering.com: How did Moribund enter the picture?
Elixir: In a blaze of Pure Satanic Fire, lol. We have been sending Odin (label owner) our material since the 90's, so he knew of us. In our persistence to work with this particular label, as with their way of thinking, it was just a matter of timing before we would be evil brothers in arms.
Blistering.com: Burning the Born Again is by far your most melodic album, yet you’ve strayed away from that with Great American Scapegoat. Do you agree/disagreement with that assessment?
Elixir: Yes to a degree, yet we have evolved a bit as well since that recording session. In a different mind set with Great American Scapegoat.
