What can one say about this amazing gem I found at Monster Melodies in Paris. It’s my favorite Entombed track off of my all-time favorite Entombed album. While I understand that purists may disagree, no matter how amazing the first two Entombed albums are (especially Left Hand Path), the death n’ roll style makes Wolverine Blues one of the best heavy metal albums of all time (who gives a crap if it wasn’t pure death metal). The perfect melding of Motörhead, Black Sabbath, and Venom with that incredible chainsaw guitar sound. The “Out of Hand” single also has my two favorite covers by Entombed: a really down-tuned ultra-heavy rendition of Kiss’ “God of Thunder” and a very Swedish death-metal version of Repulsion’s “Black Breath.” I also think this is a stellar cover courtesy of drummer Nicke Andersson, who started jumping away from cliche’d death metal album covers and began creating more iconic designs (something he would continue to do for the Hellacopters and now Death Breath). Here it is in ten minutes of head-crushing heaviness: the birth of death n’ roll.

I have officially started on book #2. Without giving away any details, one of the main characters in the book is everyone’s favorite mischief maker and all around swinging guy, Satan. The idea for the book actually came to me one morning while listening to “Up Jumped the Devil” by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Those pounding piano chords, Cave’s voice growling at that low register, the overall vibe of the dark one lurking mischievously up the street — the plot of the book laid itself out instantly in my head.

On the rare occasions when I do finally plop my ass in the chair to tap away at the keyboard, I always listen to music. Some folks find this odd as they usually require peace and quiet when writing. But I prefer to have music blaring, preferably something that gets me in the mood of the story. When I wrote The Love Book, I listened to really heavy Doom: Black Sabbath, Cathedral, The Obsessed, Spirit Caravan, St. Vitus, Grand Magus, Candlemass, Trouble. The music fit the dark stories I was firing out.

For this next book, since Satan is a central character, I decided to make good use of iTunes and put together “The Satan Playlist.” The basic criteria was this: any song that includes Satan or the devil or old scratch as a character. So for example: Robert Johnson’s “Me and the Devil Blues” is in since Johnsons sings, “And I said Hello, Satan, I believe it’s time to go,” but AC/DC’s “Hell Ain’t No Bad Place to Be” doesn’t make it since Bon Scott is merely referring to his rock n’ roll lifestyle. So without further ado, here is the playlist I put together. If you think I’ve grossly overlooked a song, send a suggestion to biffsatan@kenwohlrob.com.

Up Jumped The Devil — Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Satan’s Fall — Mercyful Fate
Devil Do — Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs
Satan Comes to the East Village — The Black Hand
Me And The Devil Blues — Robert Johnson
Sympathy For The Devil — The Rolling Stones
Lord Of This World — Black Sabbath
Satan Ex-Machina — Nox
The Devil Stole The Beat From The Lord — The Hellacopters
The Dealer — Goatsnake
Satan’s Curse — Possessed
In League With Satan — Venom
Heaven And Hell — Black Sabbath
The Devil’s Chasing Me — Reverend Horton Heat
Bleed For The Devil — Morbid Angel
The Devil And The Damage Done — Witchery
Hells Bells — AC/DC
The Antichrist — Slayer
Shout At The Devil — Mötley Crüe
Chief Rebel Angel — Entombed
Antikrist — Dimmu Borgir
King At The King / Evil Is In — Stormtroopers Of Death
The Tempter — Trouble
King Contrary Man — The Cult
In The Flesh — Entombed
Satan — Entombed
Highway To Hell — AC/DC
Hell Awaits — Slayer