King Satan is an industrial metal (or if you like: hellelektro) band from Tampere, Finland founded in the end of 2015 by vocalist and multi-instrumentalist King Aleister Satan. The band serves genre-defying and flamboyant style of aggrotech infused metal music which draws influences from over-the-top splatter aesthetics and occult philosophy – which all is delivered through the message of spiritual anarchy, black satire, rave punk, and renegade rock’n’roll spirit.

The band already gained international attention in the underground music circles with controversial music videos and genre-bending debut album “King Fucking Satan” as well as with energetic live shows which took King Satan to several festivals.

The band continued the blasphemous industrial metal crusade with new singles and music videos in 2019 which were like before all directed by band’s mastermind King Aleister Satan, pawing the way for the release of the second full-length album later the same year.

Much alike with the debut album yet now even more so, “I Want You To Worship Satan” (2019) arouse good amount of fuzz and even controversy already before the official release date, while facing the all – the acclaim, critic, confusion and also devoted following all at the same time.

King Satan delivers fierce electronics and catchy metal songs where the only law is the one of chaos, and where excessive synths, bass, electro beats, live drums, and heavily distorted guitars are served to be consumed both in the dance floor and also in a posh pit as well! All commanded by the demonic vocals of semi-eponymous frontman and the Babylonian female voice of keyboardist Katherine “Kate” Boss. And the time has come: we had the opportunity to do an interview with King Aleister Satan & Katherine “Kate” Boss.

Beginnings

ALEISTER: When I was around 6 years old I found The Offspring’s ”Smash” album through my older cousin. After that, I told my parents that I’m gonna be a musician. I think I have never thought about it after that, just acted based on this!

KATE: I don’t think I decided. As long as I remember I’ve been drawn to music and performing and so I have done in many ways since I was a little child. It’s like an illness. It eventually manifested by me becoming an instrument for King Satan. I think it is the one thing I’m ”supposed” to do since I struggle with pretty much everything else.

Behind the name

“I have been obsessed with the archetypes of the Devil, especially by ”Satan” by various aspects from esoteric, philosophical, mythological, theological and psychological sides of it – as long as I remember! They are such rich sources of inspiration for both an artist and occultist, to the point that I have fully devoted my life to it. Satan is an excellent symbol for rebellion as well what rock’n’roll or extreme music is all about.”

Inspiration

ALEISTER: I get inspired by so many things. Some of the things you can see from earlier answers regarding the band’s name, but I could say reality and my own experience of this reality which is most of the time truly stranger than fiction. We as humanity, have become alienated from reality so much that the actual reality is perceived as some sort of mystical and absurd form of imagination. We think we fantasize through art and comedy, but instead, we cope with our alienation from it with such things sort of repressed hatred manifesting itself in guilt-driven escapism, because deep down we all know this. And then, the form of reality we are actually living in is really the illusion of reality and is located inside of our minds, which walls should be destroyed in order to ”use your eyes for the very first time”. Among the other things, of course, Sex Magick and rock’n’roll are nice things too.

KATE: This is a difficult one. It’s hard to know where specifically the inspiration comes from since we are mostly dictated by our subconscious. But I’m moved by slightly twisted beauty. Melancholy, eerie, somehow deranged things are what make me feel the most, and feelings dictate what is stored into our minds and what we have in our minds is the resource we use to make decisions, and now my children, that is why we should all get to know our own devils! ’Cause the Devil is the truth and knowing some truth helps us make the best decisions we can, so we can all be slightly less shitty and.. yeah. Joe Hisaishi’s movie music is nice to listen to as well.

Work ethics

KATE: Aleister is the conductor and main force but we all lend our strengths and visions for him to mould. We all make something with our instruments and he collects them into a full song. Sometimes he asks for something specific like a solo or a riff and sometimes he’s inspired by just a tune or a beat that he somehow morphs into an entire piece. I’ve composed a couple songs almost entirely. Circus of the mind was something I played with my piano and Aleister heard it and told me it’s now going to be something for King Satan. Sometimes I just need to make something and other times he has to drag me out of my cave to play a tune for him. Creating can be quite tormenting. Psycho(logical)sadomasochism.

ALEISTER: Dance my puppets!

Tour

ALEISTER: We just started our album release tour here in Finland for our second, recently released ”I Want You To Worship Satan” album. Three shows behind and more to come. Our people and allies are working for the manifestation of another European tour in 2020 or 2021, let’s see what happens and when it happens! I almost cannot wait for it, because our first European tour back in 2018 was one of the best experiences in my life, as heavy as it was rewarding, of course. You can see all about it from our YouTube channel KingSatanTV as we made a video diary about it, titled ”Clowning Is Serious Business”. I want to get back on the road again!

KATE: It would be cool to play also outside of Finland more. I’d like to experience new places. America would be cool. Or the UK. That’s a place too. Or New Zealand, even though there isn’t much scene there as far as I know. The scenery though they have! That I like. Of course, I’d be happy to visit any of the places we already went to. We had so much fun! Though I don’t miss the cellar. That one we can skip. This time. Any excuse to travel and avoid real work actually. Let me see the sun and feel the wind on my toes… No… wait!

Teamwork

ALEISTER: Well, no river is the same twice. I live in a world of ideas and when I am ready to come back to this side of reality with them, I share them with others and we will find their physical manifestation together. Like Kate said earlier, I am sort of conductor of the orchestra.

KATE: In Tyler we trust.

Label

ALEISTER: After our show at Lost In Music Festivals in Finland, the bossman of Inverse Records approached me with a deal offer. We were negotiating with a couple of other labels as well at the time, but we felt that Inverse Records really understood what we are trying to do here and they really wanted to work with us – and here we are!

KATE: It was Magick. Probably.

ALEISTER: Well, all of our official releases are released by record labels and I have always worked with labels with all of my bands when it comes to the official releases, so I don’t really have any other real reference point. We were with Saturnal Records the years 2016-2019 and worked with American Line Productions in South America since 2018. Granted, the working with Saturnal Records was little different than with the work with our current label now, because I was a co-founder of Saturnal Records and worked also as a label manager at the time until 2017 when I sold the company to Helsinki and to new ownership in order to concentrate being artist with much fuller focus. I can tell you that I am much more comfortable at this point being only an artist, responsible for the artistic side and not the label side.

KATE: This is actually my first band. I still have no idea what is happening. In general.

Next album

ALEISTER: I am always working on new music, lyrics, videos, ideas, concepts and production techniques. When there’s enough material I see worthy for a completely new album, then we hit the studio again.

KATE: It has no beginning and no end. We are trying to relax a bit but things just emerge after being dormant and developing in our subconscious. I often feel like I just have to play or sing something with no intent to compose, just to let out the bursting of whatever feeling. I’m bursting with at the moment and from time to time Aleister materializes there and tells me ”It shall be done. King Satan will have his sacrifice!” And he makes me do more until he feels the need is served. Usually, after that I have run off somewhere to cry, hide and curse a couple of times until he’s tired of dragging me back to the instrument. Fun times!

Apotheosized music

ALEISTER: Since I am in the genre-defying business and I believe in synthesis, it would be a dream to work with some beats with Dr. Dre or Liam Howlett of The Prodigy, hah! Dre, besides his own craft, knows his Kraftwerk and Nirvana and is master of technology as well, and Howlett is basically a demigod. I’d like to include Väinämöinen playing Kantele in our albums because apparently, he plays so hard that you get drowned into the swamp, but mythological characters would’ve been rather difficult to book I guess.

KATE: I’d like to work with the Devil. I hear she has a knack for the violin. Or some shamans. I’d like to just let out and evoke feelings to a trance-like state with song and dance and whatever items turned to instruments are at hand without specific music pieces, and transform that evoked power to something positive. I really just don’t want to practice or plan or smell things.

Please support the band by buying their music – just click on the photo below.