Doomed Confessionary: Mario Brehm (Satao)
Satao is a four-piece blackened stoner/doom metal band from Darmstadt, Germany.
In order to live out their fascination for dark, raw metal, the former members of local groups Elephant Messiah, Precipitation, and Bushfire founded their new band Satao in 2022. The heaviness of stoner doom forms the foundation of the new sound, while a cold black metal atmosphere dominates the nuances of the songs. Through the different influences, Satao write energetic and dynamic compositions that take their time in the right places, creating a blackened serenity one moment only to dissolve into crushing heaviness the next.
In October 2024, the band released their debut album »Devourer Of Man« on vinyl and digital. The seven tracks on the album were written between 2022 and 2024, and offer ruminations on fear and death upon an altar of mighty, sluggish riffs. Cold yet dynamic, black yet groovy, Satao’s music is scathingly heavy. Gird yourself to be chewed up and spat out by the »Devourer Of Man«.
Satao are Sascha Holz (drums), Jonas Kaffenberger (bass), Alexander Root (vocals) and Mario Brehm (guitar, vocals).
Can you say a few words about your band?
Just to describe it in a few words: we are four experienced musicians playing blackened doom-metal, writing songs, performing shows together, concerning the illnesses of this world and the mankind inside. Each of us is involved in every process, where we enjoy to share our creativity and spend time with each other.
What was the biggest challenge for the band?
One of our biggest challenges right now is finding time to play concerts. All of us have responsibilities besides the band so it’s sometimes hard to say “No” to a show.
What can you be most proud of so far?
I think we are most proud of our newly-released album »Devourer Of Man«. It was a lot of work and was written during the last years. The fact that we wrote twice as many songs as there are on the album, didn’t make it any easier. So it contains the peak of our energy and creativity (so far).
What was your biggest regret?
In my opinion regretting things is a waste of energy and lifetime. There are probably many things one could have done better, but for me, I cannot name anything I regret.
What was the best concert/tour so far and why?
Actually we didn’t play many concerts yet. But one of our greatest shows was in fall 2024, when we presented our album live on stage for the first time. We received some great feedback of the crowd, speaking with the fans… these were the moments we said: Wow, this was even better than we expected!
What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
Talent and good songs are important, but networking and contacts are way more important if you want to play cool shows. There are sooo many bands that it is quite hard to stand out. You either feed the algorithms and play the game to the rules or you might stay unknown. We hope we can establish ourselves by playing good live shows and having people tell their friends “they were great, go see them live when they play next time”.
What is currently in your heavy musical rotation?
»Absolute Elsewhere« – Blood Incantation, »Cheat Death« – 1000mods.
What was the best advice you’ve ever been given as a musician?
Don’t expect fame or money or to become big someday. You have to feel and love the music you do. Personally I feel fulfilled when I play music to express myself and not to impress other people. I think this is exactly the driving force every musician should have.
What are your guilty pleasures?
I have so many guilty pleasures, I don’t even know where to start! But I think my guilty pleasure (but also something I am not ashamed of) is sometimes listening to and even liking corky pop-songs. Years ago I did not allow myself to like anything that was not true to the standards of heavy music. Nowadays I like what I like and that’s it. Sometimes it’s great to get older.
Can you say something more about current music scene in Darmstadt?
The music scene in Darmstadt is very prolific and there is much going on for such a small city. Everybody knows each other and it’s quite familiar. But since we ourselves are not the youngest men anymore: I don’t really see and hear any new bands of young people playing heavy stuff in Darmstadt.
Where can we see you live this year (concerts/tours)?
We will be playing our release-show on December 14th in Darmstadt and after that, on December 28th in Groß-Bieberau in a rehearsal room of our friends. More to follow 😉
What are your plans for the future as a band?
We want to establish ourselves as a name in the scene, play as many live shows as possible and continue to write music we love.
Do you have any special plans for New Year’s Eve?
No – celebrate.
How can people best support your band?
Come to our shows, enjoy our music, buy our merch and give us likes on the web.
Do you have any message for your listeners?
I hope you enjoy our music, thanks for listening!
Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well