Satyricon - The Age of Nero Roadrunner Records Released November 3rd, 2008 Tracklisting- 1 - Commando 2 - The Wolfpack 3 - Black Crow on a Tombstone 4 - Die by my Hand 5 - My Skin is Cold 6 - The Sign of the Trident 7 - Last Man Standing 8 - Den Siste The One Sentence Review: An improvement over 'Now, Diabolical', but still leaves much to be desired.

Satyricon continues the swing of rock-oriented 'black metal' with their latest, 'The Age of Nero'. While being a step above 'Now, Diabolical' in terms of heaviness, and an equal to 'Volcano' in terms of songmanship, 'The Age of Nero' is a sleepy album that has only a few aparse moments of interest and enjoyment.

Satyricon's foray into the execution of more simple songs and more traditional writing never stuck to me as much as the first three major releases from the group. Old fans of works like 'Dark Medieval Times', 'The Shadowthrone' or 'Nemisis Divina' are going to truely dislike this release, and it's kind of a coin toss for the fans of the newer works. Satyricon has made it pretty obvious that it's going to stick with it's rock orientation, so if 'Volcano' and 'Now, Diabolical' didn't convince you then 'The Age of Nero' certainly won't help either.

The musical formula is an extension of the previous release, 'Now, Diabolical', with the only major difference being Frost's more technical performance. The songs themselves start off well, but as they progress they quickly lose steam or drown under filler riffs that struggle to fill up the emptiness. There are a few tracks on this album that are destined to become singles, but for the most part, the majority of the song writing is bland. By the time you get to 'The Sign of the Trident', the novelty starts to grind into the pavement. Some of the tracks have it together, such as 'Black Crow on a Tombstone' and 'My Skin is Cold', and are enjoyable listens, but other tracks such as 'Commando', 'Last Man Standing' and 'Den Siste' are just low-brow crawls through medocrity; simple widely spaced atonal chord progressions under mid-tempo drums with Satyr rasping and choking out his vocals. There are literally a handful of elements at work here, and no deviation.

The production here is the nicest part about 'The Age of Nero', with guitars boasting a raw, frontal tone and drums that are well-placed in the mix, and have plenty of character to work your speakers out. The mix is the most solid aspect of the production, while the music and tracks themselves are minimal, the production steps in to expand those sounds to create a little bit of crowding and density in the overall end-mix.

All in all, if the majority of the songs were like 'My Skin is Cold' or 'Black Crow on a Tombstone', I'd be a fan of this release. The previously mentioned songs are really the only two reasons worth checking out, but in that case, a video has already been made for 'Black Crow on a Tombstone' and the release of 'The Age of Nero' was prefaced by the release of the 'My Skin is Cold' EP, so 'The Age of Nero's best parts are already out there for the picking...

Final Score: 5.5/10
Written by Baazgor for Metaltome.com, January 2009

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