Well, now, what have we here…
When I was a teenager, about a million years ago, and just beginning my 30-year (and counting) exploration of this crazy world of heavy metal, the Satanic Panic was going strong. I remember being told by more than one member of the allegedly moral majority about the perils of heavy metal music, and I distinctly remember hearing multiple times that, hidden beneath their bawdy barroom tales of drink and debauchery, AC/DC were actually hellfire-spitting Satanists and their name was an acronym for “Anti-Christ / Devil’s Children.” I mean, just look at the abundance of evidence, which amounts to: They have a song called “Hell’s Bells” and an album titled Highway To Hell, for Christ’s sake…
Enter Southern California hardcore / powerviolence outfit ACxDC, which now stands for Antichrist Demoncore, though it originally stood for whatever the band felt like in the moment — they just wanted to piggyback on the Aussie arena-rockers’ noteriety whilst making a silly joke. Formed in 2003, they split up and reformed in 2010, and now they’ve returned from their second hiatus with their second full-length, the subtly named Satan Is King. (The title of which is another play on / parody of pop culture, this time of Kanye’s 2019 hip hop / gospel album Jesus is King. I must admit that I have not heard this Kanye album.)
If you’ve been following along with ACxDC through the past decade or so, you know what to expect here: high-low duelling screams and growls atop blasting ‘core that leaves ample room for pit-churning grooves. Lyrical themes of anti-fascism, veganism, and Satanism run through Satan Is King’s fifteen tracks and twenty-three minutes, though it’s hard to distinguish how much of any of those lyrics might be an actual statement or a sarcasm-drenched piss-take, and that’s the point: vegan or no, Satanist or no, straightedge or no, ACxDC is against preaching, against fundamentalism in any capacity.
In comparison to the band’s previous efforts — 2014’s Antichrist Demoncore album and multiple splits — the primary difference is this: Now that ACxDC has moved up to the relative big leagues of Prosthetic (those earlier releases were on Melotov Records and To Live A Lie), Satan Is King is certainly shinier, more polished. It’s still fiery and furious grinding mayhem, but the production is markedly better. The guitars are stout, and the drums are punishing, and vocalist Sergio Amalfitano shreds his throat in multiple registers. Mostly, Satan Is King is a ripping and grinding affair, filled with blastbeats and relentless aggression, though there’s enough chunky riffery and mile-wide grooves in the likes of “Mouth Breather” and the sludgy “Turncoat” and the stomping “Maggot Museum” to keep the circle pits moving for days on end.
Though there’s more to ACxDC’s approach than mere blunt-force brutality, nevertheless, as I listen to Satan Is King, I picture it a bit like a heavyweight fighter. It comes out swinging at the sound of the bell, bouncing and weaving and taunting, but mostly relying on its own sheer strength and conviction to win. The rules of the game are laid out, so there aren’t any real surprises; it’s primarily a straightforward attack — no crouching tigers, no hidden dragons, nothing outside the norm. But even then, don’t underestimate the beating: This is a prime-time pummeling from the start to the finish, a nonstop barrage of body shots and rapid-fire jabs that all pack a devastating wallop, and the whole of it topped off with gigantic neck-breaking hooks, right and left. It’s a big beastly bastard, ready to knock you for a loop with a wink and a smile, and you’ll get right back up and tap back in, every time…
So are you ready to rumble?
