Serpentine Path: Emanations

This sophomore release from New York City's Serpentine Path offers further proof that these guys are absolute masters of doom. As many people know by now, this band is made up of current or former members of bands like Electric Wizard, Unearthly Trance, and Ramesses. With this album, the band also brings in the guitar talents of Stephen Flam, best known for his work with Winter. It's always a bit exciting, if not a little scary, to have new bands developed from established ones. Fortunately, Serpentine Path isn't just some ego-driven project, a supergroup known mostly for its members. Instead, the band simply comes together to deliver a healthy offering of doom metal that is sure to please fans of this style. Those who don't like doom metal may even discover something new to enjoy.

Musically, things move at a very slow pace. Fans expecting speed metal or thrash are simply in the wrong place. This is doom metal, after all, the kind of music that sets metronomes at some of the lowest numbers possible and then crawls from beat to beat. These slower tempos are the essence of doom metal. When played well, with the proper patience between beats, the result can be overwhelming, crushing, bleak, and awesome. This band is especially good at sticking not only to the beat but also filling in the spaces with some pretty cool, even melodic, guitar leads that add variety and interest to things. Still, the overall pounding, the slow movement, is often enough to keep things going. I am a fan of this style and have no trouble saying that, from start to finish, Serpentine Path delivers the goods.

For me, the album highlights include "House of Worship," "Claws," "Disfigured Colossus," and "Systematic Extinction." It's a bit tough to say these are the best songs on the album since the music here is consistently written from within the same framework; nevertheless, these tracks stood out to me as being especially well put together not only musically but also lyrically. This is strong stuff—check this album out!

Track Listing:
1. House of Worship
2. Treacherous Waters
3. Claws
4. Disfigured Colossus
5. Systematic Extinction
6. Essence of Heresy
7. Torment

Added: June 24th 2014
Reviewer: Carl Sederholm
Score:
Related Link: Band Facebook Page
Hits: 2313
Language: english

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