I will be the first to admit that my relationship with Satanic Warmaster has been built on a very shaky balance. On one hand I cannot fathom how, with some of the earlier lyrics and especially bands and labels Satanic Warmaster shared associations with, Werwolf can state Satanic Warmaster has nothing to do with NSBM. We will leave it to Lauri Penttila conscience. Only there the truth ultimately resides … On the other hand I am always drawn to the next Satanic Warmaster release like a moth to the fire. Werwolf, using his own label, and in association with Hells Headbangers, has done many of us a favor, and probably saved a lot of $$$ in the process, by putting out a pseudo-new Satanic Warmaster release. More specifically the label went out and collected much of Satanic Warmaster rare material, specifically the songs from many splits this prolific Finnish one-man band put out throughout history. Given these were very limited releases I am willing to bet a couple of things, that many of these are not well known at all, so these songs could serve as unheard of heretofore material, and also by putting it all on an aptly titled compilation We are the Worms That Crawl on the Broken Wings of an Angel Werwolf/Hells Headbangers deprived eBay of some record sales. By doing so the label managed to compile some of the most brutal, rawest, yet some of the catchiest and infectious true black metal, all in one place.

Track after track, spanning approximately from 2003 to 2009, Satanic Warmaster reminds us why the band is unmatched in its style of riff oriented, primitive yet all-encompassing, emotional black metal with some of the best, most hateful and characteristic vocals in the genre. Perhaps not yet at melodic levels of later albums (Nachzehrer, Fimbulwinter), Satanic Warmaster manages to instill melodies with shrill grind of Satan's Race, punk driven deprived Hold on to Your Dreams, proud high flying Nameless Sacrifice, corrosive doomy Dead Light of a Lost Star, dirty bestial thrashy Massacre, but mostly with blasting grimness of Where Eternity Awaits Immortal would have been proud of. Werwolf’s vocals are the voice of this evil basement dwelling creature, wrapped in its dirty melodic fury. And it is not all linear or on-note. There are moments in Satanic Warmaster songs you least expect. The quiet inward synth intro of The Chant of the Barbarian Wolvesalmost paralyzes after which an outburst of a song stuns even more. In same way the outro of Six Million Tears chills with terror (if the song title is any reference, yes, Holocaust took place). There are unusual low tuned guitars in March of the Legion Werwolf and accordion (?) in A Hymn for the Black Empire which almost makes it sound like Windir. The Burning Eyes of the Werewolf is now mocking and folky, a cleaner, almost joking tongue-in-cheek moment when serious façade is forgotten.

It took me forever to write up a review for this compilation, because I kept listening to it, uncovering more and more about Satanic Warmaster I didn’t even know, but I certainly wanted to make a point We are the Worms That Crawl on the Broken Wings of an Angel saw the light (or is it darkness?) of day. There are probably no purists or true fans who have heard all of these songs. With a full album you can hide a filler song or two. With the split, when you have one, maybe two, moments to make a difference, every song here, or just about, makes an impact. What probably is also true, that on all those splits it was definitely Satanic Warmaster which was the main draw and the better side of the split. All the more reasons to avoid releasing material with the likes of Aryan Blood or Stutthof.