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Never did get around to checking out these guys before hearing this one, and for that I admit to having made a mistake. Satanic Curses, while not offering anything special to its chosen field of crunchy retro German-styled Heavy Metal, is quite a visceral and fist-pumping exercise all the same.

Mystic Prophecy bases their sound around the powerful, smooth vocals of R.D. Liapakis, which are easily digestible when combined with the warm, thick guitar tone and the heavy attack of the riffs. Sure, this won't win any Pulitzer Prizes, but Mystic Prophecy know how to rock, and they'll show you that in the 45 minutes or so that this album takes up. This is goddamned fun.

There aren't any real bad songs here, just some that are better than others. The whole album is just a damned solid exercise in revisiting the strengths of past greats, with songs that have no frills or fringes, just back to basics Heavy Metal the way it should be done. There are all sorts of cool moments, like the monster shout-along chorus of the title track, the ultra-melodic and soaring "Sacrifice Me," the complex chorus and pounding guitars of "Demon's Blood," which is probably the best on here, the singable and fist-pumping anthem "Rock the Night" and of course the rather cool cover of Black Sabbath's "Paranoid."

With no further ado, I will recommend Satanic Curses to anyone tired of music being pretentious or bloated with harsh vocals and synths. This is a good time in aural form, so go check it out next time you're feeling down.