 |
Serpent Ov Old's Withering Hope may have the sound of raw and pure black metal; the guitars are fuzzy, the drums are tinny, and the bass non-existent. The insane screams and croaks of the vocalists are buried in the mix; making them sound almost like white (black?) noise. But the songwriting is something else, this is pretty far from non-stop simplistic tremolo riffing. Songs are complex, and you find melodic and catchy parts littered among the blast beats and the furious guitars.
And man those guitars... many of the songs feature fantastic and totally over the top soloing, moving them into symphonic black metal territory; just without any of the symphonic bits. And then there's the title track with the evil croaks and machine like drumming, on top of a sea of buzzing guitars. When suddenly a pop choir starts alternating lines with the croaked vocals, moving the song into... I don't know where really, but I know I like being there.
[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]