I can’t say that black metal has ever appealed to me. I mean, when it comes to metal, I usually draw my line around Pantera. So, I went into Skeletonwitch’s new album Serpents Unleashed with pretty low expectations thinking that I’d get lost with the unintelligible groaning that defines the genre. Man, was I wrong about that.
Serpents Unleashed is your stereotypical metal album—you’ve got the furious throat singing, the almost mandated double-bass drumming and guitar-shredding guaranteed to make fingers bleed. There’s even that slow lead-in on “More Cruel Than Weak” that’s been a staple of heavy metal since Metallica rode the lightning back in ‘84. So, for me, there was very little that stood out on Serpents Unleashed that could distinguish it from all of the other metal albums that I’ve listened to beyond one fact: Skeletonwitch is good at it.
It’s all incredibly cohesive. The double-bass drumming sounds like it’s actually there to drive the songs, as opposed to being there because the genre demands it. It does get ahead of itself at times—“This Evil Embrace” being a huge offender during the verses—but even there it attempts to serve the song rather than the genre's expectations. Guitarists Scott Hedrick and Nate Garnette bombard the listener with a perfectly executed double-guitar riff attack, knowing exactly when to cut in with solos and doing so without the gun-toting attempts to steal the spotlight many shredders are guilty of doing. Skeletonwitch’s dynamics are topped off by the deep-throated moaning of Chance Garnette—which surprisingly add an edge to the songs rather than distract the listener.
There may have been a few flops along the way, but Skeletonwitch succeeded in making a solid metal album out of Serpents Unleashed. They put their songs first, a strategy that has rewarded them with a collection of thrash tunes that are undeniably great additions to the black metal canon. Heads will be banging and air will be shredded when these serpents are unleashed.
Rating: B+
