In a new feature by music journalist Joel Gausten, Lucien Greaves – the co-founder of The Satanic Temple – discusses how former Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo came to be involved in Satanic Planet, Greaves’ project with Lombardo, Luke Henshaw (Planet B, Sonido De La Frontera) and Justin Pearson (The Locust, Dead Cross). Initially asked to perform live drums on the track "Strangers", Lombardo ended up performing on the entire Satanic Planet album, which came out in May via Three One G Records. Excerpts from the feature appear below:

"Strangers" – and the entire Satanic Planet project, for that matter – took on a new life once Pearson passed the track along to Lombardo to see if he’d be interested in putting down live drums for it. Before long, the metal legend was adding his unique touch all over the place.

“He had fun working on the entire album and really liked the idea of not necessarily doing live drums,” Greaves says. “He really liked giving the tracks this kind of deep, resonating ambience and doom sound that kind of permeates the album. He really added something there.”

Now that Satanic Planet has been unleashed upon the masses, the menace captured on disc and vinyl is raising more than a few eyebrows – especially within a metal community that is largely scratching its head (and spouting considerable online vitriol) over everything from Lombardo’s presence to the album’s overall content. While he is certainly no stranger to controversy, Greaves is nonetheless nonplussed by the response.

“I had no idea how shitty the metal scene can be with its purists. There are people who are outright pissed off that this isn’t a metal album or that Dave isn’t playing Slayer drums on every track. That’s bizarre to me – the insistence some people have that the music you make needs to fall within some well-defined genre parameters. That wasn’t something I was familiar with until watching people’s reactions to this album.”

As for the future of Satanic Planet, Greaves confirms that a second album is currently being composed via filesharing, adding that Lombardo is taking an active role in the initial creation of the tracks this time around.

“The kinds of files that we’re exchanging back and forth right now indicate that this one’s going to sound a little different, but it’s also going to have a lot of that same complexity to it. I’m really excited about it.”

The complete feature is available here.

Satanic Planet is the creation of Lucien Greaves (The Satanic Temple co-founder and spokesperson), Luke Henshaw (Planet B, Sonido de la Frontera), Dave Lombardo (Slayer, Misfits, Suicidal Tendencies, Dead Cross), and Justin Pearson (The Locust, Dead Cross, Swing Kids, Deaf Club).

The group has released a video for the track "Devil In Me", featured on their self-titled debut album. Order the album here, and watch the clip below.

"Devil in Me” features guest vocalist/Grammy-nominated pianist Nomi Abadi. The video was directed by Lola Blanc (who has written songs alongside producers and songwriters such as Sophie, Ammo, Fernando Garibay, Jimmy Harry, Jon Levine, TheFatRat and more, and has made acting appearances on television shows such as American Horror Story: Hotel and Life in Pieces).

With the birth of Satanic Planet, hip-hop producer Henshaw and punk provocateur Pearson joined co-founder and spokesperson of The Satanic Temple, Lucien Greaves – the most prominent and outspoken contemporary Satanist in the world. Greaves has gained international attention as an advocate for religious liberty and the voice of the Satanic Reformation, delivering lectures nationwide and featured in national media outlets including  MSNBC, NPR, Huffington Post Live, CNN, Harper’s Monthly, Newsweek, Fox News, Vice, Salon, Rolling Stone, and many more. As the trio were diligently working, and nearly completed with, the music for their debut album, the worldwide pandemic hit, seemingly bringing things to a halt. However, with the onset of this new way of living, the newly-formed band was in a unique position to enlist the legendary Dave Lombardo, who found himself not touring for the first time in years, and suddenly having more time to work in his home studio on projects that interested him. With the addition of this iconic drummer, Satanic Planet was complete.

Here, Greaves moves beyond spoken word and into lyricism, with the experimental musical backing of Henshaw, the demonic vocals of Pearson, and the diverse, score-like approach of Lombardo. Along the way, an eclectic range of guest appearances arise, including Cattle Decapitation’s Travis Ryan, Silent’s Jung Sing, Eric Livingston, Nomi Abadi, Shiva Honey, and even a witty piece from the iconic Steve-O of Jackass fame. This collaboration embraces the avant garde to create sci-fi sermons that range from doom and industrial to evil exotica. These dark musical soundscapes serve as a vessel to share the important messages that The Satanic Temple stands for, including religious freedom, highlighting the hypocrisy in dominant organized religions, and the horrific consequences of pseudoscience and malpractice still being utilized today in America.  

Tracklisting:

"Baphomet" (feat. Jung Sing)
"999"
"Grey Faction"
"Passage"
"Invocation"
"Devil In Me" (feat. Nomi Abadi)
"Unbaptism" (feat. Travis Ryan, Shiva Honey)
"Vete al Infierno" (feat. Jung Sing, Carrie Feller)
"The Hell"
"Strangers"
"Exorcism" (feat. Travis Ryan, Shiva Honey)
"Satanic Planet" (feat. Eric Livingston)
"Liturgy"

"Liturgy" video:

"Baphomet" video:

"Satanic Planet" video:

(Photo - Becky DiGiglio)