SERPENTSHRINE - Besetting the Altar
Self Released
Well I've written about black metal acts from all over the world so why not one from a nearby vacation spot. At this point in time the idea of judging a band, especially one of this genre, from where they come from is long over. Also from my experience some of the more interesting black metal acts are now coming from non traditional places. As I've mentioned many times I live in North Carolina and over the past decade my northern neighbors have bestowed on us many a good band who hang within the darkness. Here's the latest one.
SERPENTSHRINE are a three piece black metal act who hail from Virginia Beach, Virginia. What makes this their debut full length interesting is a split formula. First off it's what they're not which is good. They're not more generic blackened thrash or blackened prog rock. Secondly their sound on here has an old school BM quality going for it. Basically this is a band who know how to introduce intricate and beautiful sounding guitar segues inbetween harsh melodies. Along with their blackened influences they add in some classic metal power chord barrages and death metal passages. What obviously stands out the most is the searing guitar soloing. The vocals sound like a young Shagrath which I think sounds cool as fuck.
I'm not going to say Besetting the Altar is a perfect release. There are times when you feel/hear demo quality imperfections which a bigger budget production would cover. Out of the nine cuts on here a few mix in too much outsider genre influences that doesn't make it unique at all. In fact if they had a female keyboard player in a low cut outfit then I'd say hello to 2008 again. But they don't so I hope this band continues on the course which they're headed. This debut shows promise especially while I listen to it while a thunderstorm is raging outside.
https://serpentshrine.bandcamp.com/releases
https://www.facebook.com/HailtheSerpent
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