Four years on from their cranium-crushing third album, Hammer The Bastards, Manchester’s feral kebab-seeking kings of the underworld Wolfbastard have returned. They’ve got a new label in the form of underground champions Apocalyptic Witchcraft, and a disfiguringly savage new album, Satanic Scum Punks.
The joys of spring sometimes bring along some glorious days, but also stuffy heads and throats that feel like they’re being cuddled by barbed wire. If I wasn’t already feeling this way, then the offering before me is likely to batter me even more. I mean, come on, even the album artwork from Branca Studios looks like it wants to do some serious damage, and that’s even before the record starts!
It’s clear from the opening track, “It’s Fucking Dark”, that the blackened crust running through Wolfbastard’s veins is still very much alive and well. This is immediately followed by the album’s title track, “Satanic Scum Punks”, which really drills down to the mechanics and importance of the album’s message: malice and menace in droves.
“Let The Bastards Burn” is a flame of sheer catharsis to which the band, in their musical pyromancy, only add the accelerant. As the album swings into “Hail Satan Kurwa”, it’s easy to lose yourself in the chaos, but there is no denying that this is easily the most technically annihilating material the band have put down so far.
“F.O.T.D” comes armed with an accompanying video that shows the guys have absolutely not lost their sense of humour, although the swift savagery and delivery of the track gives off an air of wanton destruction. “Blood On Steel” marks the halfway point and is undoubtedly the album’s crowning glory—everything structurally fits so well together. Then, the dominant bass lines and shout-along chorus of “Drink For Hell” fires through into the cacophony of jagged glass that is “Fuck The Bastards”.
The final stretch consists of a trio that, even if they stood alone, would more than demonstrate just how venomous and violent Wolfbastard are. I am certainly looking forward to seeing “Manic Street Creatures” and “You Fucking Rat” live in particular, with the closer “B-I-F-F-O” being no less relentless and reckless.
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Satanic Scum Punks is out on 13th March
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