Style: Death/Black (mixed vocals)
Review by: Jonah
Country: France
Release date: 23-10-2018
NOTE: This album was originally included in the October 2018 issue of The Progressive Subway
When I started listening to this album it was a relief. If you haven’t noticed, the other selections I got for this set of reviews were less than stellar, and Cor Serpentii was the final band on my review list, so I was pretty pessimistic when I started listening. This changed almost immediately as I was treated to a barrage of tremolo riffs, blast beats, and wonderful high snarls and emotive clean singing.
The guitar-work on this album is stellar, ranging from traditional blackened riffs to wonderfully dissonant guitar squeals and more death metal inspired riffage. While not necessarily incredibly creative for the whole run-time, the guitar is constantly engaging and wonderfully pleasant to listen to. The bass is definitely not as loud as I would like, but it’s present and provides a good backup to the drums in filling out the album’s sound. The drumming is freaking insane, double-bass abounds and the various drum fills are incredibly varied, from traditional hyper-fast death metal drumming to rhythmic, Gojira-esque fills I found myself constantly surprised, and enjoying every second of it. This is even more impressive given that the drums on this album are all 100% programmed, which often lends an unnatural feel to them. Not so here, as I didn’t even realize the drumming was programmed until I check the band’s bandcamp page.
Then you get to the vocals, and man those do not disappoint. The harsh vocals are snarly and high and wonderful, and occasionally dips into a really guttural lower range that just does a phenomenal job of filling out and beefing up the sound. Occasionally the album includes clean singing, and it reminds me of Ihsahn’s recent ventures into cleaner vocals. They might not be the most technically impressive or varied, but they have a wonderful emotional strength behind them, and they absolutely add something to the band’s whole sound, and make me want to keep coming back to listen to them.
Cor Serpentii makes me want more of their music every time I listen, and that’s no small feat.
The band apparently formed after the collapse of a previous death metal project, and all I can say is that I hope they keep making music, and I hope that it keeps getting better and better, because this debut impressed the hell out of me, and you should absolutely give it a listen.
Recommended tracks: The Serpent’s Stratagem, Sand Storm, Waves of Wrath
Recommended for fans of: Behemoth, Dissection
Final verdict: 8/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Metal-Archives page
Label: Independent
Cor Serpentii is:
– Frederic G. (vocals)
– Nicolas B. (guitars)
– Benoit J. (bass)
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