SATAN'S HOST - Virgin Sails LP HRR 342, ltd 500, 350 x bronze vinyl + 150 x black vinyl, 425gsm heavy cardboard cover, insert Harry Conklin - vocals Patrick Evil - guitars Marcus Garcia - bass Anthony Lopez - drums -Cor Malifecus – Heart of Evil -Island of the Giant Ants -Dichotomy -Of Beast and Men -Akoman -Reanimated Anomalies -Infinite Impossibilities -Vaporous of the Blood -Taromati -Virgin Sails AVAILABLE

Satanic Heavy Metal has one name: Satan’s Host! Having been around for more than 35 years, these guys from Denver, Colorado now deliver their 11th full-length studio album “Virgin Sails”. It shows the veterans of heavy satanic worship at their best, and even better. The songwriting has matured, the ideas are brand new, but the long loved trademarks stay the same: Satan’s Host have been known for seamlessly combining elements from Heavy Metal, Power Metal, Thrash Metal, Death Metal and Black Metal, serving a unique brew straight from the Dark Lord’s chalice. What development does this unique blend of metal undergo on „Virgin Sails“? Harry Conklin, better known under his moniker Leviathan Thisiren, the first and original vocalist, who joined after having left Jag Panzer in 1986, has something to say about this: “We as a band have always written what comes NATURALLY from our senses. If Pat (original guitarist Patrick Evil, US) has a riff then it usually starts growing into a song in a matter of minutes. We are not heavily influenced by other bands or styles within or without our genre.” Drummer Anthony Lopez aka “Evil Little Hobbit” adds: “We don’t like to limit ourselves or pigeonhole our sound or what we want to do, we are a Metal band, Metal from Hell is our genre and it encompasses all aspects of Metal. We like to expand in all directions as long it has that signature sound.” Being an experienced band, the recording process of “Virgin Sails” went all smoothly, as Harry remembers: “It was very relaxing for me. We as a band rehearsed the material quite a bit before recording it. Dave Otero and I collaborate a lot on style and melody placement, but primarily all vocals start with my original idea and expand or contract from there. The vocal melody and harmonies are all O.K.ed by the band far beforehand and even after the mix before final mix and master.” Satan’s Host once again worked together with Dave Otero at Flatline Audio who went in with the band for the 7th time now, an arrangemnt both sides could benefit from: “We go in and we know what to expect and how the work flow is going to go and just maximise in everything we do.” “Metal from Hell”, the very first full-length album by Satan’s Host came out in 1986, one of the most legendary years in metal history. After a long break of fourteen (!) years, overshadowed by the band’s temporary split and bridged only by two demos from 1987 and 1999 respectively, the second studio album “Archidoxes of Evil” was spawned. That was the beginning of a long, continuous line of great albums. Where does the inspiration come from that makes even the 11th studio album sound fresh and original like Satan’s Host had just invented that specific kind of metal? Anthony replies: “As far as sounding fresh and original, it goes back to that signature sound that Patrick Evil has always had for Satan’s Host since ‘Metal from Hell’. We just do what we feel is natural, Patrick has so many riffs, song structures, and ideas that I don’t know if we will ever get them all recorded in this life time, plus all the stuff the rest of us contribute. The goal as far as an album is to always outdo what we have done in the past, but you can put on a song from any time period from our history and you know immediately that it is Satan’s Host.” The album opens with the dark and heavy riff monster “Cor Malifecus – The heart of evil”, carried and defined by Harry’s epic, dramatic and amazingly varied vocals. Does “Cor Maleficus” give the direction for the rest of the album? “Originally we wanted the album to start with the title track ‘Virgin Sails’. I gave the idea for ‘Cor’ to be the starting song because it has great impact and represents the band well. The rest of the guys agreed and it stuck.” Anthony adds: “Cor Maleficus sets a mood for the album, it builds up real nice and goes through some killer sections till the end of the song where it is really heavy, it is a favorite to play live and we have been using it to start out most of our live performances.” He also goes more into detail about the ideas behind the songs: “‘Cor Malifecus – Heart of Evil’ is about Satan and the corruption of this earth, same thing with ‘Island of the Giant Ants’: The giant ants are the ones running things and we are all the little guys doing their bidding, they destroy us through us. ‘Reanimated Anomalies’ is our take on the zombie thing, and ‘Infinite Impossibilities’ is about the mind’s third eye. It seems like since Harry Conklin rejoined Satan’s Host in 2010, a whole new era has begun for Satan’s Host, seeing a band that’s stronger and better than ever before, right? “HELL YEAH!!!” is the answer Harry gives, while Anthony’s answer is more in-depth: “I think that since Harry joined the band it has opened many new avenues musically for us, plus it has opened the market up for us because of what he offers as a vocalist. I can’t think of anyone in the industry that does what Harry does now, and that is to be a real vocalist that sings with power, melody, and still be able to do all the black metal screeching and all the Death metal growling. Most vocalists are pigeonholed, they can only do one thing, and most of them can’t sing with melody, Harry does everything and does it fantastic. But as far as the music is concerned, we are doing what we have always done; the music has always been top notch, innovative on each album but still compounding on that signature sound that Pat Evil developed since the beginning” Satan’s Host have seen some low points in your career – did that have any effect on the way the guys write and play music? “It’s life. When we are at a high, there is still something going on with us or within life in general that is pissing us off and adding to the fire. Life is a bitch and life is wonderful, you roll with the punches, fight to keep what you have and fight to gain. I feel it reflects in the music. Virgin Sails is a very pissed off album, and we are attacking those who cause opposition.” So far, many reviewers called “Virgin Sails“ the best Satan’s Host album ever. To Anthony it’s just a continuation from “By the Hands of the Devil”: “On ‘Celebration’, the compilation that came out in 2011, ‘For the Love of Satan’ and ‘Convictions’ are songs that bridge that album to ‘Virgin Sails’. Everything else on the ‘Celebration’ album was just bonus for the fans, and we love that album. ‘Power~Purity~Perfection...999’ is still one of my all time favourite metal albums, and that is said as a fan of metal, that’s up there with Mercyful Fate’s ‘Melissa’ and ‘Don’t Break the Oath’ and all my Maiden favourites. That album got awesome reviews all over the globe but is still one of the most underrated metal albums EVER. We put all our heart and soul in these albums and hope that the world recognizes them all for what they are, great high quality metal, ‘Virgin Sails’ is next in line and the bridge to the next album.” The artwork for “Virgin Sails” was contributed by Joe Petagno, who also worked for bands like Motörhead and Marduk and who has been doing all album covers for Satan’s Host since “Burning the Born Again”. What is working with him like? “We have a great relationship with him, Pat tells him his ideas and he runs with it and comes out with these awesome covers. He didn’t do the cover for ‘Celebration’, that was a bit out of context compared to our regular releases, though he did the new logo and cross on that album, so he is on there too. Joe is great, he gets our idea across and just embellishes it with his style. I like all the hidden scenes he puts in our covers, and it’s awesome.” Having played the Keep It True festival in Germany in 2010 seems like a big mark in the band’s career. Will Satan’s Host return to play some festival headlining spots in Germany or other parts of Europe? Anthony confirms: “That is our plan, hopefully this go around the promoters won’t be afraid to give Satan’s Host a chance to play these festivals. We have the goods, and we deliver!” Playing in Germany would be especially nice, if you ask the guys: “We hold Germany and the German fans dear to us, they greeted us with open arms when we came to the KIT fest in 2010 and we have many good friends in Germany! Prost!” Asked for a closing statement on what the new album is all about, Anthony has a clear message for everyone in doubt about their intentions: “We ARE SATAN’S HOST!!!! We will not ‘bend’ to conform to anything we do not see fit within our realm. It is our duty to express true thoughts and visions however blessed by the past, present, or future. We try to maintain accuracy as much as possible when mentioning events. Once again, WE ‘DO WHAT THOU WILT’.” Ulrike Schmitz