Rok - "This Is Satanik", 1998

Whoever's familiar with Australia's craziest band, Sadistik Exekution, should already know who Rok is; the infamous vocalist is a staple of the Aussie extreme metal scene, having been around since the 80s, and he's also a renowned artist who painted all the covers and logos for all his projects as well as many more bands and fanzines, including the logo for the legendary Norwegian Slayer Mag. While Sadistik Exekution was at the peak of its limited underground popularity, Rok took the chance to release a couple of solo records, and guess what: they're as crazy as anything he put out with his main band, although a little more coherent. 

This debut album shows Rok mostly paying tribute to his roots; Venom and early Bathory, as well as most of 80s speed metal, seem to be the main references, with double kick-laden scorchers and rocking riffs that today would fly under the banner of the so-called black 'n' roll. There's space for some faster material, such as the short "The Butcher of Bagdad" or the frantic final section of "The Fall of the Macedonian Empire", but most of the time the songs move at a moderate, old-school speed; Rok even finds the time to desecrate his countrymen AC/DC with "Shit City", displaying a chorus that obviously echoes the classic "Sin City".

"This Is Satanik" clocks in at just 31 minutes, but there's quite a bit of filler on it; three of the tracks are pretty much pure noise, with Rok screaming and cursing incoherently in the background, while "Pestilence of Insanity Backwards" serves as some sort of instrumental guitar outro, vaguely reminiscent of Celtic Frost/Hellhammer, with a female narration by the mysterious Princess Heinkel Hellfukker, who apparently also plays some guitars on the album.

The line-up is rather puzzling; the whole backing band never appeared on any other records than Rok's, and while there are seemingly two drummers, I actually doubt either of them are real, since the drums sound like a typical drum machine of the time. Rok is credited as the only songwriter, so it's definitely possible that he played all the guitar parts on here and got some friend to program the drums, then made up some fancy war names such as "Hellaxe Snot Hammer" to make it look like there was a full band behind the project. The album sounds raw and akin to a low-budget home recording, so it's more than likely that it was a one-man project by Rok, backed by some close friends to engineer the record and to guest here and there for some leads, additional vocals, and assorted ruckus.

"This Is Satanik" is a divertissement that shouldn't be taken too seriously, and it's pretty much an EP, considering all the filler tracks that are featured just to pad the already scant running time. This said, it's fun enough to warrant a listen every once in a while, although the follow-up "Burning Metal" is certainly a more accomplished record, and the one to go for if you want to have a more accurate picture of what Rok was up to with his solo venture.