Portugal. The Man - The Satanic Satanist

Having a name like 'Portugal. The Man' is kind of a put off at first. Is the period really necessary? It's not easy to tell someone that your new favorite band is Portugal. (pause) The Man. I mean it's awkward. But if you feel the same way I do about the band, you suck it up. Or just call them Portugal.

I couldn't review The Satanic Satanist without mentioning the packaging. If you felt proud getting to the CD inside In Rainbows, or if you think getting the disc out of Oracular Spectacular or even Funeral was tricky, use caution. Or maybe you didn't have any trouble getting those CDs out. Well I did. I eagerly ripped off the plastic cover only to find a mess of inserts and foldable flaps. All covered in some awkward Picasso-water-color-third-grade-cut-outs. I dug to the bottom only to find a booklet. NO CD! The band had sneakily camouflaged the CD. If that's even possible. But it was. Extremely judgmental at the time and worried what my mom would think I was spending my money on, I quickly hid the CD back in the bag and played my newly bought Dinosaur Jr.

Anyways, to the album. This is the best album I think I have bought in at least a year. Second thought, maybe even ever. Well, maybe not, but it's close.

The extremely pleasant People Say opens the album. 'We may have lost a million men, but we've got a million more' they sing. This song is free on their site, and I highly recommend it. Julian thinks it sounds a little like R.E.M, and that's not really a compliment, so I kind of disagree. But I see where he's coming from. The next few songs are even better than the first. Work All Day and Lovers in Love knock my socks off. The album then has three songs all starting with 'the' up next. The Sun, The Home, and The Woods. And I would rank the songs in that order pretty much according to good-ness. Guns & Dogs is good, too, but two real gems of songs come towards the end: Do You and Everyone is Golden. The album then winds down.

I clearly loved the album, but I think it's a personal taste thing. You might not like it quite as much as I did. I think that that says something about the band, that its appeal differs so much between people.
I think it settles for an eight and a half.

So yes, I would recommend buying this album, at least for the package if not for the music.



-Owen