Among the more curious entries in the annals of underground Czech black metal obscurities is Satanchist. Czech extreme metal from the late 80s and early 90s always had an elusive, indescribable character; prominent bands like Root, Master’s Hammer, and Torr produced a body of work that avoided adherence to formula. Though unknown compared with the aforementioned bands, Satanchist left an eccentric mark of their own. Formed in 1989—the same year that Communist Czechoslovakia dissolved amid the so-called “Velvet Revolution,” giving rise to the Czech Republic—Satanchist began as a duo playing blackened grind metal. Satanchist recorded the “Drti?i Kací?ských Pohlaví” demo, the band’s only official release . The demo fell between the cracks of the burgeoning black metal movement, it’s physical obscurity and unconventional stylistic approach rendering it largely inaccessible. The cover is deceptively simplistic, giving the false impression that the music is some sort of banal, adolescent gore grind, but that isn’t the case. After the demo came out, Satanchist played a handful of local shows before disbanding, and the remarkable demo recording remained largely lost to the decaying processes of memory and time. It’s time to revisit and reevaluate this excellent recording, and this reissue will hopefully deliver it to a broader audience and solidify Satanchist’s legacy.