SATAN are a British heavy metal band formed in 1980 in their home town of Newcastle Upon Tyne. The band is considered influential for playing a form of proto-thrash/speed metal that was fairly advanced by the standards of the early 1980s, influencing major acts like METALLICA, EXODUS, DEATH ANGEL.
SATAN released two demos, a 7″, a four song EP, and two full length Albums before going into hibernation in the late 1980s.
After reuniting in 2011 with the line-up from their classic debut album ‘Court In The Act’ (1983), SATAN signed to Listenable Records to release a direct successor to said album in 2013. The response to ‘Life Sentence’ was beyond all expectations; the album made it to a lot of magazine’s top albums of 2013, and SATAN were honoured to play at festivals all across Europe. 2013 also marked the band’s first ever live show in North America at ‘Wings of Metal’ festival, Montreal.
SATAN’s ‘second surge’ continued in 2014 with the band’s ‘Live Sentence’ world tour being a phenomenal success. Guitarist Steve Ramsey said: “Even back in the 80’s nothing we did could compare to this – 29 shows in four continents, 57 flights and 3 tour-buses.” Highlights included a headlining show at Bloodstock, the Whisky A Go Go in Hollywood, the band’s first appearance in Japan and playing to 22000 when SATAN opened for Maiden at Hellfest.
In late 2014 a live album was released on Listenable Records to coincide with the Fall dates of the ‘Live Sentence’ tour in North America and Japan. Titled ‘Trail of Fire – Live in North America’ the material for this album was recorded on the band’s East Coast tour earlier that year.
SATAN kicked off their ‘Trail Of Fire 2015′ with European dates in Germany, Norway, Sweden, Italy, Belgium and Holland. Presently they have just returned from a successful South American tour playing shows in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru and Colombia.
Somehow during that time they have also managed to record a new studio album ‘Atom By Atom’ which will be released in October on the Listenable Records label. The album features ten new songs written by the band, and is once again produced by Dario Mollo. SATAN have also enlisted the services of artist Eliran Kantor for the LP cover. According to Ramsey: “We were well aware that Life Sentence would take some beating but I think we’ve done it. We started writing almost two years ago and I believe this is our best material yet”. The live shows will continue into the Autumn, starting with an appearance at Germany’s Headbangers Open Air fest July 25th.
In 2018, the band signed a new multi-album recording contract with Metal Blade Records. Their fifth studio album and first under Metal Blade Records, "Cruel Magic" was released on 7 September 2018. The first single from "Cruel Magic", "The Doomsday Clock", was released on 6 July. Satan released their next studio album, "Earth Infernal", on 1 April 2022.