RSS Feed


SERPENTINE PATH
Serpentine Path

Relapse (2012)
Rating: 7/10

Relapse Records most certainly have an eye for talent. New York / New Jersey quintet Serpentine Path, like labelmates Hooded Menace, opt for the doomier side of things, but this time round it’s much bleaker, reminding me of that ashen classic Into Darkness (1990) by cult doomsters Winter.

Serpentine Path rarely move beyond the pace of a salt-coated slug, producing a formidable weight of down-tuned, drawn out riffs topped with chesty, gurgled vocals.

As a bit of background to this behemoth, Serpentine Path consist of members of Electric Wizard and Unearthly Trance. Ryan Lipynsky is responsible for the ghastly growls which would be equally suited to an Autopsy record, for they exist in some watery, swampy realm. It’s no wonder that the band have the same icy effect as Winter, their guitarist Stephen Flam is now on board as a second axe-man, no doubt making sure the suffocating riffs are slow and punishing enough to drain the listener of blood.

Again, this is far removed from the Black Sabbath-esque, stoner doom we’ve become accustomed to; there is little imagery or psychedelic influence in Serpentine Path’s torturous depths. The five-minute ‘Compendium Of Suffering’ feels like an eternity on the soul; a slow, ice-covered doomscape that in reality just doesn’t go anywhere.

‘Crotalus Horridus Horridus’ takes the same miserable path; a leviathan of a doom track that is hard on the ears, conjuring images of foetid wastes and inhospitable terrain. There is something so hurtful in the cavernous drums of Darren Verni, as they ring out like peals of hellish thunder. But my main issue here is the wearisome plod of it all; Serpentine Path having the same effect on me as Warhorse.

There’s no doubting the behemoth bellow of it all, tracks like ‘Beyond The Dawn Of Time’ and ‘Aphelion’ are crushing, desolate and apocalyptic in their approach, and while it is their aim to be so ashen, I find myself gagging for a tad more colour. Mind you, when so many bands are spending their time trying to sound like Black Sabbath, it’s no wonder others are keen to live up to the dooooooom metal moniker. However, after experiencing Winter’s Into Darkness all those years ago, and even the less threatening Sevenchurch, Serpentine Path begin to grate after a while, but hats off to them for creating another miserable episode in the genre’s bleak history.

Neil Arnold

<< Back to Album & EP Reviews



Related Posts via Categories
Share