SERPENT BITE – Army Of Darkness
|
|
The eighties were a wonderful time if you cherished cheap horror films straight to VHS and even cheaper paperback novels whose cover artworks were as grisly as their contents. If you remember fondly that kind of entertainment, you should check out Serpent Bite, a metal band from the south of Luxembourg that is exactly reviving that kind of aesthetics on their debut longplayer Army Of Darkness, which takes its title from the eponymous Sam Raimi horror film from the early nineties. Back in 2020, Serpent Bite released already their EP The Night, but as the world was in the midst of a pandemic, not everyone – me included – seemed to have noticed. Three years later, the quartet is back with the first regular album, and their mix of heavy metal and thrash metal, with a hearty punk attitude, feels very refreshing. The opener and also pre-release single Blood Drops shows the band from its most brutal side. At three minutes, this is a short track with angry vocals and later backing vocals that remind me of Biohazard at their finest. The following The Ripper is a more typical metal song, with more emphasis on melodies, and a chorus that is quite catchy. Rock’n Roll Is My Religion is another shorter piece. Despite the obvious Turbonegro influence, this is a very fun track that is made for being played in a live setting. The title track is a longer and more epic track with good arrangements that make sure that the different movements fit well with one another. More silliness comes with Evil Pastor. I mean, a such-titled track can only be fun, and it does! The song’s beginning comes with a heavy mid-tempo groove, just to be followed by an unforgettable chorus with a strong eighties flair. The album’s second half starts with Comatose, another groove metal track with a hardcore infused chorus that once again works because of its catchy melodies. The following four tracks unfortunately lose momentum, and I wonder if the weakest tracks have been put to the end out of strategic reasons. Bludgeoned To Death is some kind of semi-ballad where the soft part doesn’t really work out that well, and the chorus is just the song title repeated over and over. Dean tries to recapture the mood of late eighties / early nineties crossover metal, and despite some nice ideas, lyrics like “I’m a freaky lover” make it all come across a little juvenile. Bad Boys is another attempt at Turbonegro punk fun but the execution feels a little heavy-handed. The concluding Doomsday is, just like the title track, another more epic sounding metal song with lots of different parts, where some work better, and some not so. The latter goes for the mellow break halfway through. It is obvious that there is a lot of talent at work on Army Of Darkness. Serpent Bite are definitely not trying to follow some trend, but do what they really like: traditional metal inspired by the eighties, enhanced by thrash metal’s energy and punk rock’s attitude. Influenced by bands like Metallica, Black Sabbath, Thin Lizzy, Biohazard and Turbonegro, the quartet come up with their very own hybrid. When Serpent Bite are at their best, their music will really kick your ass. The powerful production highlights their spirit, and you get eventually an incredibly great first half and a somewhat less strong latter one. Nonetheless, their original take on recombining their influences makes them one of the most interesting metal bands currently active in Luxembourg. |
|
10 songs |
|
|
45:10 minutes |
|
|
***** ** |
|
|
Genre: heavy thrash metal (self-released) |
|
|
Artist pages: |
