Satyricon – Live At The Opera (2015)

As one of the most refined bands of the early wave of Norwegian Black Metal, Satyricon has kept pushing their sound over the years. In “Live at The Opera”, we get to hear some of their earlier works and their most recent pieces play seamlessly together in a 94 minute concert that incorporates a 55-person choral arrangements into their music. Allowing the band’s sound to be more sinister than ever, this is one hell of a live release…. And we have only heard the audio portion of it.

Slowly starting with an extra creepy version of “Voice of Shadows”, the band sets the mood quite effectively with the second track “Now Diabolical”. With a very subtle usage of the choir arrangements to create very oppressive moods, the band greatly improves on songs like the previously mentioned one and other classics like “Repined Bastard Nation”. The band’s newest songs “Nocturnal Flare” and “Our World it Rumbles Tonight” feature very effective arrangements to make already catchy songs even more dynamic and engaging.

Things really start rolling with the crushing riffing of “Die By My Hand” and “Tro Og Kraft”, two songs that showcase how Satyricon can great seemingly simple catchy Black Metal songs that grab your attention. The enhanced choir arrangements make then more dramatic and crisp sounding. Our absolute favorite track in this release is the truly emotional rendition of “Phoenx”, featuring mainstream Norwegian singer Sivert Høyem. This song is for us the definition of what an ‘evil Satyricon-sounding’ riff is like. As a close second (tied) we have the monumental rendition of “Mother North” that sent chills through our spine after having seen that video for hours on repeat in our younger days, and the headbanging anthem “K.I.N.G”.

Overall, Satyricon adds a very refined touch to their already impressive songs and makes them sound considerably more dramatic and oppressive. The songwriting quality behind any of the band’s releases is clearly highlighted in how well their material works with new arrangements that avoids them to sound like two different thing going on at once, a big issue for other bands that have attempted to use classical arrangements on their music. When it comes to live releases, this one sounds like a million dollars and you should not miss it and we can’t wait for the actual video of this masterpiece.

Label: Napalm Records

Release: May 5th, 2015

Genre: Black Metal

Country: Norway