It takes loads 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 art work, so it is laborious to not really feel somewhat brief on air (and endurance) in terms of this music. Nevertheless, this new album from Montreal’s Serpent Corpse actually stands out as loss of life metallic of the best high quality, giving the type a a lot wanted shot of vitality.
One sonic facet that units the album aside is the manufacturing therapy 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 may positively hear this within the riff construction. There is a faint trace of thrash and crossover as properly, notably within the transitions from one part of a track to the subsequent.
This crushing-yet-atmospheric sound lands notably properly on the album’s slower numbers, like the superb “Let the Rats Feed.” In a much less fascinating band’s fingers, this might very simply flip right into a snorefest, however Serpent Corpse harness all of their harmful powers to make it an absolute banger. Thus it is also true on “Land of Rot and Misfortune,” the track that maybe most conspicuously exhibits the band’s thrashy aspect, with a bridge virtually written for the circle pit.
Apart from these songs, the band is most comfy within the D-beat mid-range. They usually do that very properly on tracks like “Electrical Eye” and “Crucifixion Shrine.” On the one hand, it might have been cool to listen to the drums blast away and add that speed-demon dimension. However, nonetheless, the band’s strategy to tempo does give the album loads of cohesion and holds every thing collectively properly.
On the entire, the album is a constant and pleasurable loss of life metallic seance. I additionally appreciated how the guitars sounded related 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 all the album. It is a sound steeped within the glory days of 1987 to 1993, however provides you one thing to be stoked about for 2023 as properly.
