Oye, oye, oye, ye people of the lowlands! Wolfbastard are up to their gruesome ways again. And their fury is blazing hot, enough to chase Lucifer away. The last time over, they mercilessly hammered robed priests to a pulp. This time, they take an unholy liking to broken bottles in dark street corners. It’s a blood-soaked business, this punkish Black Metal thing.
But never forget, the beast is lurking right behind you, so be careful with those tools, will ya? It seems that this Manchester place leads people into evil deeds, so the whole setup kinda fits the mold. That said, their last offering left quite a crater over here. And now we got new missiles incoming. Take cover!
Satanic Scum Punks, the band named their newest cutthroat, razor-sharp piece of wiolence hiding in a leather jacket. This time, against the backdrop of the end of the world, no less. A dystopian take on humanity’s total decline until only the dregs of scum are remaining. And those will drop “…back in the gutter…” as well, eventually. In other words, Wolfbastard will get you a version of GTA 27 after the maniacal gang-fueled lo-life bonanza finally failed. Visions of Mad Max, not in a desert but in a Northern city setting? Quite.
And they do that with, well, more of the same. An improved production that ferociously continues where Hammer The Bastards left off. If anything, they seem to sail a bit closer to their brethren in Death Metal, with some rotten odor wafting over directly from Sweden. Yet this time, Wolfbastard added a bunch of amps and threw in some blood-red meat to their vile riff fest for (blood) sport. But by and large, their fare still rumbles about some crusty punk-infested Black Metal hellscape ready to scrape skin off yer backs with rusty blades.
I reckon you caught our drift in the meantime. The RMR crew loved the raw power, this assault of gritty and almost daemonic wrath Satanic Scum Punks freely disperses. It is this unholy union of straight-in-yer-face punk riffs, gruffly venomous croaks and gritty rasps, and scratchy tremolos that finally lit this darkly sparkling black candle on Satan’s birthday cake. Together with the pummeling drum work, a feeling of them proverbial fingernails scraping down a blackboard slowly sets in. A ferocious metal assault that you cannot escape. Like a festering wound that some trident-weaving evil acolyte is dripping acid in. To keep it open, like.
And similar to the former bastardly hammer blows, this record’s seriously lacking in variety, too. But then, raging savagery is hardly ever elegant. Meaning, you get a lot of repetitions and a glut of circular riff wankery. To the point that you’ll have trouble pinpointing your position on the tracklist in this moshy mix of similarly convoluted violence.
Ultimately, Satanic Scum Punks sounds like a perpetual fistfight up in the most forlorn alleys of Salford. Biffo be my witness. A piece of relentless retribution for – something, I guess. But if you’re angry enough to be violent and don’t feel like attending one of those anal anger management classes, then this record might save your ass. Wolfbastard don’t look for an intellectually balanced interchange of information. Y’know, civilized discourse during an afternoon teaparty. Instead, they answer that call with ferocious savagery that won’t let up until those 30 minutes of airplay finally peter out.
And yet. SSP mercilessly talked screamed to this crew’s punkish side, that dark spot on our ice-cold metal souls. A vile trait that made us let Wolfbastard‘s brutal musings rumble over our stomachs with the bass on full blast more than once. Neighbors be damned. Oh, and we have friends in the Punk Rock scene. Should we send them this here offering to give these misfits ideas where to take their gig next? Damn straight, we will. Manchester sounds like a fine place to start their next tour.
Record Rating: 7/10 | Label: Apocalyptic Witchcraft | Web: Official Band Site
Release Date: 13 March 2026