Review by Michael on May 21, 2024.

Vocalist Petri Lindroos and drummer Janne Parviainen from Ensiferum have a new battlefield with Satanic North. Of course because it is black metal business they don't appear with their real names but under some mysterious pseudonyms (IIT Caprae and Abyssir). Together with Skomorokh on the guitar and vocalist Von Occult they broke through the gates and stepped out of the darkness to spread hatred and blasphemy in the world (at least that's what is said in the press promo). This is a really high ambition, so we will see if they can do what they promised. And as you can clearly see in the name, they didn't start a hard rock band but do some really old-school black metal here.

Although they are from Finland, they sound more like old Immortal, Dark Funeral, The Abyss and all the Swedish and Norwegian fast played stuff from the 90s. Only in some tracks punky Impaled Nazarene shine through (maybe it depends on the vocals which remind me often of Mika Luttinen like in 'Behind The Inverted Cross' or the title track). The sound matches that decade, too. Drums are a little bit tinny but I guess this matches the sound. The most impacting albums on the guys were probably “Battles In The North” and “Blizzard Beasts” which isn't the worst choice. Lyrically you get the full satanic whole nine yards, no cliché is left out. Only here and there some tempo is taken out of the songs but mostly they blast through the ten blasphemous tracks. This is an amazing old-school black metal album you can fully enjoy. Their black metal is mostly reduced to fast blast beats and minimalistic riffing so that you can absolutely see the energy and hatred that comes from the ten songs. Nevertheless they keep the stuff they do very recognizable and never lose the melodic aspects in the songs. With 'Vultures' they have a catchy mid-tempo song (at least it is for the first almost two minutes) that spreads a slightly relaxed atmosphere and a very surprising change in their music. Just like Dark Funeral with 'Bloodfrozen' on “The Secret Of The Black Arts” – I remember that I woke up because of this slow song after falling asleep because of all the blast beats (and maybe the beers I had). But I guess that Satanic North cannot do slow for more than two minutes, so this also turns out to become a blast beat inferno.

Just like the band said: “we all have the same vision of black metal and this vision is: stop with all the mid-tempo stuff, let's bring back blast beats”. I would say that if you want your black metal frosty and without any trends, this debut is the right thing for you. Here everything works quite well and even the room temperature here sinks about some degrees while listening to it. Apart from the music, also the design of the album is done with a lot of heart. The cover was done by Samuli Ponsimaa, whom the one or the other might know as the guitarist of Finntroll. This is a very detailed and sinister black-white cover from the very depths of hell and if you open the digipack, you will have an upside-down turned cross. What a nice, blasphemous idea. I guess some stuff on the album is done with a twinkle in the band's eye but really doesn't matter. This is really well executed black metal stuff without any compromises and should be acknowledged in the scene for sure!

Rating: 9.5 out of 10

Review by Chad on January 8, 2020.

A risk indeed. After taking some advice from Metallica's Lars Ulrich, Dave Mustaine decided to change pace with 1999's aptly titled Risk. Gone was any shred of thrash; or even heavy metal for that matter and instead fans received a much more pop influenced Mustaine. For some Megadeth fans this change of pace will be a breath of fresh air and to others it will be a rude awakening. Regardless, Megadeth had gradually been losing their bite throughout the 90's and by the end of the decade, it seemed that Mustaine and crew had grown bored with the sound they had become known for and seemingly wanted to distance themselves from what Megadeth had always done best.

With Nick Menza leaving the band presumably to start his solo career, Mustaine recruited Jimmy Degrasso, who up until this point had only been behind the drums for Mustaine's side project MD.45. While Jimmy does a boring and predictable performance on Risk, he's not to blame, it's the direction of the songwriting in general. Take for example "Breadline" which sounds more like something you'd expect from a cheesy 70's progressive rock band such as Journey's "Don't Stop Believing” and is by far the worst song on the album. Wanderlust follows suite and delivers a blatant paraphrase of Bon Jovi's "Dead or Alive". Alas, Mustaine himself has traded in his signature snarl and attitude for a commercial sound, and while there's nothing wrong with that, much of Risk fails to be anything other than vapid arena rock. There are no noteworthy guitar solos on the entire album, or even any rhythm guitar riffs that'll inspire you to pick up a guitar for yourself.

Needless to say, Megadeth have changed; and with that, alienated their fanbase while not attracting much of a new crowd, unlike their contemporaries in Metallica. That's kind of a shame though because Risk is not all bad. In fact, it's a better outing than when Metallica released their pop rock albums "Load" and "Reload". The opening track "Insomnia" greets the listener with violin and sitar samples which lead into an upbeat pop rock song, and upbeat is really the word that would sum up this entire album. It just sounds way too happy, there's not a single song you'd be able to bang your head to, nothing cathartic to make you feel... much of anything really. The entire album lacks emotion and drive and even Mustaine sounds particularly bored delivering his vocals on "Crush 'Em", the albums single!

I wonder how much of Risk's new sound was inspired by Dave's newfound outlook on Christianity. Although he didn't announce his conversion to Christianity until a few years after Risk's release, songs like "I'll be There for You" and "Ecstasy" have this uplifting Christian rock sound to them. The description alone will be enough to turn most metal heads away, but I'd say they are some of the stronger songs on the album. They're contrasted with the somber album's closer "Time" which is split up into two parts. It starts off as an acoustic piece that soon turns into a pop metal tune and becomes a noisy mess until the closing of the album.

Overall, Risk is a mixed bag of mostly uninspired catchy radio rock and hints at a Megadeth that wanted to branch out, or perhaps Mustaine simply wanted to beat Metallica at their own game and show that he could one up them and do commercial rock better. Either way, Risk was an album that hurt Megadeth in the long run. Some fans will see Risk as such a betrayal that they will never find interest in listening to Megadeth ever again. Combine that with tours Mustaine canceled with Rotting Christ and Dissection simply because of his newfound faith, only serving to further distance himself from the fans who admired his music to begin with, it's not hard to see that Mustaine was shooting himself in the foot.

Superchard gets super hard for:
'Time: The Beginning'
'Time: The End'

Rating: 5.2 out of 10

Review by Luka on May 3, 2001.

The day I bought this waste of plastic is the day I lost all faith in Megadeth, one of my major and lifelong favorite bands. Dave Mustaine doesn’t even _pretend_ to still be metal, with a single like "Crush ‘Em" he makes it pretty clear that he’s just an old man after money, following Metallica’s greedy footsteps.

I’ll admit there are a few songs that I enjoy. "Insomnia", the opening track is pretty cool with a catchy chorus and lots of effects, "The Doctor Is Calling" is also good, and "Wanderlust" has a really nice climax.

"Prince Of Darkness" is Dave Mustaine’s pathetic attempt to write a good, heavy metal song. He lost the ability to write these about five years ago however. The last two songs are also kind of hard-edged but they’re pretty shitty. Dave’s whining about old age catching up to him. Why don’t you have your morning tea and forget about this nonsense about making Megadeth famous again.

That’s about it, the rest may be melodic and hard to write but they’re trash, and couldn’t be any further from heavy metal.
97’s "Cryptic Writings" was an album divided into three types of songs: the 90’s Rust in Peace era: fast and ripping, the Countdown to Extinction type: slow and heavy, and the Youthanasia stuff, light and melodic. Every Megadeth fan eagerly awaited to find out which path Megadeth would take with "Risk", and surprise surprise, it’s the light and melodic garbage.

Bottom Line: This thing is swimming in sewage 50 meters below the bottom line.

Rating: 3 out of 10