Album Overview: SERPENT CORPSE Blood Sabbath
It takes rather a lot to revive my confidence in new-old-school loss of life metallic. For the final 10 years we have been virtually drowning in HM-2 pedals, classic longsleeve T-shirts, and Dan Seagrave-style paintings, so it is exhausting to not really feel a little bit brief on air (and persistence) on the subject of this music. Nonetheless, this new album from Montreal’s Serpent Corpse actually stands out as loss of life metallic of the very best high quality, giving the type a a lot wanted shot of vitality.
One sonic facet that units the album aside is the manufacturing remedy of Andrew Haddad‘s vocals. His voice is thick and harsh, a cross between Thomas Gabriel Warrior’s legendary “Ugh” and the commanding supply of Vader‘s Peter Wiwczarek. This sits atop the band’s nourishing brew of Entombed and varied different influences. Of their press information, Serpent Corpse name-checks Darkthrone‘s Soulside Journey as a key inspiration, and you’ll positively hear this within the riff construction. There is a faint trace of thrash and crossover as nicely, notably within the transitions from one part of a track to the subsequent.
This crushing-yet-atmospheric sound lands notably nicely on the album’s slower numbers, like the wonderful “Let the Rats Feed.” In a much less fascinating band’s palms, this might very simply flip right into a snorefest, however Serpent Corpse harness all of their damaging powers to make it an absolute banger. Thus it is also true on “Land of Rot and Misfortune,” the track that maybe most conspicuously reveals the band’s thrashy aspect, with a bridge virtually written for the circle pit.
Except for these songs, the band is most comfy within the D-beat mid-range. They usually do that very nicely on tracks like “Electrical Eye” and “Crucifixion Shrine.” On the one hand, it will have been cool to listen to the drums blast away and add that speed-demon dimension. Then again, nevertheless, the band’s method to tempo does give the album lots of cohesion and holds every part collectively properly.
On the entire, the album is a constant and gratifying loss of life metallic seance. I additionally appreciated how the guitars sounded comparable to the HM-2 pedal sound however that the band did not merely parrot the precise sound from Left Hand Path (hoping nobody would discover). That serves as a helpful metaphor for your complete album. It is a sound steeped within the glory days of 1987 to 1993, however offers you one thing to be stoked about for 2023 as nicely.
