Portugal. The Man’s latest album, The Satanic Satanist, opens up with a guitar riff straight out of a Lynyrd Skynyrd song and maintains a consistent down-home feel for the duration of the album. This southern influence seems strange for a band from Alaska, but this album seems to be, at times, derived from southern rock bands such as Skynyrd and presents a strong mix of gospel-like vocals and hippie love-rock anthems in its own alternative packaging.
The Satanic Satanist appears to be the next step for Portugal. The Man since their 2008 release Censored Colors. Having adapted their own progressive, dirty blues style through their career, the band takes it back to roots on this album. Overall, the album is interesting and well crafted considering the band’s commitment to releasing albums on a yearly basis, but perhaps some more time would have done this one some good.
The individual songs, although refreshingly different from each other, are relatively generic and thin in content. The message and its presentation often seem like lead vocalist John Gourley thinks he is your grade school music teacher, but this sometimes works to the band’s advantage. “Pick it up and pack it up/ And put it in a bag/ Stack it up like cinnamon/ We’ll get it real fast/ Until there’s nothing left for you,” Gourley chants in “Work All Day.” It is almost impossible not to want to sing along to almost every song on the album. The lyrics are catchy and rhythmic and are repeated to the point just before they become annoying.
This release is not bad, just a bit disappointing. The Satanic Satanist does not live up to early albums by the band such as 2007’s Church Mouth (2007) or Waiter: “You Vultures!” (2006), but it has a few of its own gems.
“People Say” is a soaring antiwar protest that makes you feel like you are singing along at Woodstock. It is pretty uplifting for a song about war and is surprisingly cheerful for the opening track of an album by the name of The Satanic Satanist. For this reason, the track has a sort of unexpected feel that will make longtime Portugal. The Man fans smile.
The album comes to a close with “Mornings.” This is sort of the grand finale of the whole thing. Starting out with two very reverb-drenched guitars, this one soon erupts into a highly orchestrated ballad full of violins and the like. “Mornings” is a suitable end to the album and gives it a great epic conclusion.
As a whole, The Satanic Satanist is a much more experienced and mature Portugal. The Man. It shows a band that has grown up from its more punk-influenced works like Waiter: “You Vultures” and, as a result, is much slower overall and a lot smoother musically.
3 out of 5 stars