Serpent Corpse – Blood Sabbath (Punkened Death Metal)

 

A new band with their first full-length? A disaster for some, a past they can never escape for others. “Yeah, but that first album was so good…” For Serpent Corpse, however, this would rather seem to be their advantage since they fit right in there with practically the entire death metal fray of the 1990s. Do they come in fists swinging? Yes, and at times those knuckles do hit sir. This shit is obscure anyway, but in its own outsider nature it’s still something that will direct your attention outside of the herd for the most part. So let’s check out this Blood Sabbath.

   

Something a seasoned expert will notice about Serpent Corpse almost immediately is they’re very sure about what they’re doing, and prove quite good at it. This isn’t posturing, folks, this is their thing, if that thing is 1990s-styled death metal with a slight punk (or punkened perhaps) edge. Blood Sabbath provides most of its kicks through traditional patterns laid out in solid oppressiveness. This isn’t going to turn any heads the whole way around for those looking for more deviant metal, but a half turn, yes. The primary reason is the vocal delivery, which functions like a cultist leading a ritual sabbath. Oh damn, I guess the album title makes sense… Commanding incantations (translation: riffs), this particular aspect sets Serpent Corpse on this debut slightly apart from the usual, but for future work it will be to their advantage to pull out all the heretical stops. Mess with the genre, mess with my feelings, make me fall into sin so that no one likes what I listen to anymore.

 

Serpent Corpse Official Instagram

Written by Stanley, Devourer of Souls

Serpent Corpse – Blood Sabbath
Temple of Mystery Records
Cover Art: Lucas Korte (Shoggoth Kinetics)
4.2 / 5