Saltpig is a two-man metal band with its members living practically on opposite ends of the globe. Mitch Davis started writing this debut album and enlisted drummer Fabio Alessandrini (playing with Annihilator at the time) early on in the process. Even though they are separated by an ocean with Mitch based in the US and Fabio in Italy, technology allowed them to make a record as easily as if they were in the same room.
Check out the playthrough for “Satan’s War” – premiered exclusively through BraveWords!
"'Satan’s War' is a really interesting song to me because it’s pretty much unrecognizable without the guitar harmonies and vocal melody on there. When I was writing it, I didn’t know where it was gonna ultimately go. The main guitar basically can broken down to the same general shape riff being played all over the guitar neck at different pitches but with the same open string tone being played beneath the chords. So it’s like these parallel parts which are put into completely different contexts.
This gives me the opportunity to approach a similar rhythm part from different angles by playing with the top line using syncopation in different ways and focusing on different accent points in the rhythm guitar to lock onto with the vocals and melody guitar themes. I was able to use that to make each section stand out. It’s something Mercyful Fate does so effectively but in a different sort of way with 'Desecration Of Souls' (one of my favorite songs on one of the most perfect albums ever created) where it has a recurring rhythmic theme that gets totally transformed between the solo sections, verses and chorus.
Then, to make the middle 8 / b-section really feel like a complete turnaround while still maintaining that same connection, I changed the open string note as well.
If I just listen to the song, I don’t even notice what the rhythm guitar is doing… and when I listen to the backing guitars by themselves, it doesn’t even sound like the same song to me.
And then you have Fabio’s drums that totally frame the structure perfectly and bring it to a whole other level… He’s a big part of what makes this song what it is. He does some very cool stuff where he completely changed up the beat in different sections to build the energy so well. All leading up to the end where I tried to add some chaos by layering a bunch of ascending note guitar solos and sped the tape up on all of them at different rates to make a pile of dissonance in the background.
Of course, I didn’t think about it in some mathematical way when I wrote 'Satan’s War'. I just did what I thought sounded cool. It’s only when I look at it in retrospect I can point out these things. The fact that I can listen to this song even now and still surprise myself with it is what makes it probably my favorite song on the album." - Mitch Davis
Davis has worked with and recorded bands/artists such as Damon Albarn, U2, Mark Lanegan, Billy Squier, Danger Mouse and Stephen Malkmus. He has also co-written the four latest LA Guns records since the Tracii Guns / Phil Lewis reunion and the Sunbomb album with Michael Sweet. But the Saltpig project is in a decidedly darker and much less commercial direction while still being very memorable and hooky.
