ALBUM REVIEW: Sulphur Sovereign – Blood of Serpents

A change in musical style can make or break a band. On the one hand, it can isolate you from your fan base or not go too well. However, on the few occasions when a band shifts from one genre to another and it pays off, it can result in some brilliant music and, with any luck, a much wider audience. BLOOD OF SERPENTS are one such band who have changed their sound and made it work perfectly. Moving away from the death/thrash sound that characterised their first full length and EPs, and adopting an impressive black metal sound in its place.

With a new drummer and vocalist to go with this change in musical style, BLOOD OF SERPENTS have managed to perfectly craft an excellent piece of ferocious and speed driven black metal that not only makes for a great change of pace for the band, but also, arguably, one of the stand out candidates for black metal record of the year.

Mater Tenebris is a bleak and atmospheric track with a razor sharp tremolo picked opening guitar line backed by minimalist, primal drums. It quickly descends into a fairly chaotic affair, tinged with some solid lead guitar melodies and acerbic vocals. This is an incredibly intense track practically from start to finish, and you can almost feel the anger and aggression dripping out of the speakers as it plays. It is a magnificent way to open this record: with an impressively strong, ferocious tour de force of blistering black metal.

In Darkness, Brotherhood takes up the mantle of the last track, proving to be equally as fierce as, and at some points even more so, than the preceding song. It surges to life at a break neck pace, and manages to intersperse some excellent guitar motifs in amongst the cacophony of the thunderous drums and punishing bass and rhythm guitar lines. The shrill and grating edge of the vocals complements the more frenetic side of the music extremely well, and helps to imbue this track with a lot more of its darker and more bestial moments. Devil’s Tongue is, by contrast with the songs that came before it, a more measured affair, that still manages to pack an almighty punch with its jarring rhythms, intricate, dancing drum patterns and excellent leads, which seem to soar above the bulk of the music like a ravenous bird of prey. The vocals likewise carve through the mix and leave a caustic mark on the song’s overall ambience. This is really solid melodic black metal that sticks in the memory whilst simultaneously shredding the ear drums.

Evictor of Christ is a grim offering with a militaristic beat and vicious sound on all fronts. This is pure rage and power condensed down into musical form. From the whirlwind riffs to the machine gun precise drumming, it’s both fast and unrelentingly oppressive with its sound, with the vocals in particular adding plenty of emotive weight to an already dense and palpable sound. It’s an utterly feral sounding song, peppered plenty of great hooks and gnarly motifs that make it raise the bar musically and emotionally for the rest of the record.

As The Temple Burns, with its haunting opening riff, sucks the listener in straight away, and when backed by solid drums and a robust rhythm guitar and bass line, it takes on a life of its own. This is a much more mid-paced affair that only opts for speed-driven moments as and when needed, shifting seamlessly between a steady and bleak pace and a more blistering and aggressive one. The slower, morosely parts really add a lot of emotive weight to the proceedings, and allow the vocals to come to the fore and really take centre stage. It’s a vast, monolithic song that shows off the range of BLOOD OF SERPENTS‘ song-writing talents, and displays plenty of great musicianship.

Canticle, by contrast, is a short track built around an eerie piano motif, primal percussion and sparse, ethereal vocals. This is essentially an interlude between the last song and the next, and it really helps to break the album up impressively, providing plenty of atmosphere that is still dark and sepulchral without having to resort to fast and furious riffing. As Nocturnal Dimensions Beckon, with a thunderous, descending drum line, launches into a gargantuan wall of noise that creates a whirlwind of cacophonous sound that borders on chaotic. The vocals, once again, are the star of the show, rising out of the grim tundra of thick chords and off kilter drumming with a shrill and bestial howl. This is unerringly ferocious throughout, and it rarely, if ever, takes its foot off the pedal or decides to make use of a slow and measured break. As Nocturnal Dimensions Beckon is just wall to wall intensity, and you’d be hard pressed to find a more powerful and musically impactful track on the rest of the record.

Upon Waters Dark is another ferocious, blisteringly fast slab of acidic black metal, with caustic vocals, punishing drums and razor sharp, grating guitar lines that build a sound that is absolutely monstrous throughout. This is an unrelenting, fierce musical onslaught which shows just how talented BLOOD OF SERPENTS are as performers and composers, with some precise musicianship, a bleak and aggressive atmosphere and some of the best performances on the whole album. It stands as one of the albums key highlights, with some brilliant, sparse guitar hooks standing out significantly.

Prophet of a False Faith is a steady, mid-tempo piece of music which opts for a slower pace and fuller chords, which make it sound truly powerful, and at points, truly epic. With some bloodcurdling vocals added to the fray, and some imaginative and intricate drumming, this proves to be solid black metal track with a subtle, underlying technicality. The album’s final track, A Void Between Worlds, is brilliantly chaotic and cacophonous, bursting out of the speakers in a blaze of eerie riffs and thunderous drums. Once again, the vocals add a lot of depth to the music, and carve through the mix and provide a tortured, acerbic edge that complements the music incredibly well. It’s a great track that brings this album to a close on a high note.

Sulphur Sovereign is a really good record from start to finish. It’s a tour de force of excellent, acerbic black metal with lots of melodic flourishes that really carve through the intensity of the record and add plenty of catchy and memorable moments to the music. If you love black metal in the vein of FUNERAL MIST and OFERMOD, then this will most certainly be your kind of music; bleak, aggressive and sharp, with little to no room for a dull moment. Hopefully BLOOD OF SERPENTS sticks with this musical direction, as it will be very interesting to see just how they intend to follow it up.

Rating: 8/10

Sulphur Sovereign is out now via Non Serviam Records. 

Like BLOOD OF SERPENTS on Facebook.