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SNAKEBITE DELIGHT
Sorcerer’s Scroll

Self-released (2022)
Rating: 7.5/10

This bunch of rowdy rebels are new to me, but I like their sound – a riotous, hog roast sizzling like a doomy White Zombie doused in redneck fever. Snakebite Delight hails from Chicago, Illinois and feature son and father Eric (vocals and guitar) and Dana (bass and vocals) Ervin alongside Mitch Huffman (vocals and guitar) and Nick Guzman (drums and vocals).

Opening cut ‘Death Train’ barges into the last chance saloon on a devilish, rusty riff. The track is catchy yet rough, matched by the Rob Zombie-esque scowls. Meanwhile, ‘Slow Burn’ sizzles like a sun-baked lizard then transforms into a full blown howling bathroom cacophony as the band drifts effectively between oily backwoods frogstomps and stoned, bluesy 70s vibes, as with ‘Whiskey, Witches & Wine’ with its echoes of Eric Clapton’s ‘Cocaine’ merged with Black Sabbath-like thuds.

The title track is a bombastic groove machine sparked by its gargantuan riffage and stony percussion, while ‘MK Ultra’ is punky and violent industrialised in its vocal spits, and ‘Gotta Go’ is a full on psych / blues volcano.

I’ve no doubt the doom heads will latch onto this, but this isn’t doom metal in spite of the traces of stoned psychedelia. Instead, we get a kaleidoscope of grooves not necessarily steeped in heaviness but always edgy and rebellious in its stomp.

Tracks such as ‘Iron King’ may appear as a touch generic in their swirls, but there is a rawness and ugly undertone on offer here, similarly evident in albums by UK act Possessor. However, with Snakebite Delight there is less horror, more moonshine madness.

Neil Arnold

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