Please tell us about the history of your band and its members.
I founded King Satan in 2015 in Tampere, Finland, first as for my solo project to execute things I never had a change to do with my earlier bands. And after the first single, ”Enter Black Fire” released in December 2015, the things got out of hand pretty fast in a good way. Single went kind of viral and demo was sold out very fast, and we got live show requests after that. I recruited live line up first and after couple of years growing pains, we became full band on the recordings as well. At the moment yours truly (King Aleister Satan) handles vocals, lyrics, songwriting, production and music videos, Hekate ”Kate” Boss handles Synths and vocals too, Jerry Rock’n’roll its our bass player, EF-13 guitarist and Pete Hellraiser isi the drummer.
How would you describe your style? Which bands influenced your music?
I say we play occult industrial metal, but I already saw one description about our upcoming single which was pretty spot on I think, it said this: Industrial metal with carnivalesque touch and melodic death metal twist. I especially fell in love with this term ”carnivalesque”, which was not just adjective, but literary mode that subverts and liberates the assumptions of the dominant style or atmosphere through humor and chaos. In our case, very dark and blasphemous humor though. And beneath the carnivalesque mask, there is more in-depth psychological, philosophical and mystic side too, which is sometimes not so beneath either. But yeah, we are a tough cookie to put in a place I have been told, because one the key factors of our creative process is to challenge al the expectations and perceptions about what this kind of music should be.The list of musical influences is vast, and would require excessive and boring name dropping, but I can say that our music is as much influenced by The Prodigy as it is by Deicide and Slipknot or Turbonegro and Eurodance.
Why should a metalhead buy your demos/albums?
If you want to challenge of your idea of genre conformity and expand your idea of what metal music could be, this is your thing. We are heretics in all aspects of our act!
What have you released so far and how were your releases received by the public/media?
We have released 2 full length albums and 8 singles from them. The debut ”King Fucking Satan” was released in 2017, and it was surprisingly controversial because its really genre-defying and boundary pushing style and lyrical themes. It was very confusing release for most of the people apparently, for us too because of all the buzz. We got critical acclaim but also hateful reviews as well, we made enemies and devoted followers at the same time. Especially fundamental religious people made campaigns against us and tried to cause lots of shit for us which just resulted better album sales, so jokes on them. The first pressing got sold out during the first months quite fast and we promoted the album by touring in 11 countries, so overall reception was more than we ever anticipated. Our second album ”I Want You To Worship Satan” continued the same way, but was cut in short because of Covid-19 hit the world right after the album release tour which ended in January 2020. We seem to be those bands you either love or hate, no middle grounds here! Fuck the rest, Satan is best.
Do you play live as well? How's your live activity so far?
Definitely. We are very much live show oriented band these days, which is ironic that I never planned to take this on the stage in the first place. But things happen. We were quite active before Covid-19. We toured once in Europe in 10 countries, like I said before there, and played in Finland actively. This whole pandemic cut our second album touring plans very short, only 6 shows were fulfilled, and now we just wait. We were supposed to go for another European tour, but let’s see how long this pandemic remains unconquered.
What should labels/zines/promoters know about your band? Why should they be interested in it?
That speaking about the nature of reality might trigger someone! We are kind of non-conforming act I think, and our style is not really in the genre formality, but more in between the lines and in the attitude perhaps. We do something which push the buttons, and leaves you not cold.
What plans do you have for the near future as a band?
The release of brand new single ”This is Where the Magick happens” will happen in May 27. 2021, which we made during the Covid-19 lockdowns. The single presents more metalized side from us, and kind of starts a new era with our sound, leaving aggrotech sounds in minority and embracing metal side more strongly, but still with the same things that makes us what we are when it comes to the attitude and themes.
Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?
Listen us at Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1V9mrCXH8tey5uHZlsAxKW?si=OxP7Y90ATd2K-iWib7Tm8g
Watch us at YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/KingSatanTV
And buy our albums from here: https://www.levykauppax.fi/search/?q=King+Satan
And merchandise from here: https://morbidnorth.com/kingsatan/
May 2021