Album Type: EP
Date
Released: 21/12/2014
Label: Self
Release
Merging In light LP//DD track
listing:
1 Breed, Consume, Die (07:23)
2 Third Mind (04:30)
3 A Union of Opposites (09:40)
In
the Company of Serpents are:
Brown Notes & Scratchy Throat | Grant Netzorg
Skins | Joseph Weller Myer
Review:
Hailing from Denver, Colorado, In The Company of
Serpents are back with an EP which is absolutely perfect and depressing in its
sound. It’s a thunderous and downtuned beast. It couldn’t have been released on
a better day than the winter solstice, the darkest day of the year. How this
duo can make such a thunderous, epic, filthy and sludgy sound is bewildering,
nonetheless I’m bewitched.
I first heard about the band when they released ‘Of
The Flock’. I thought that record was a masterpiece but I lost it somewhere in
the flood of good music released last year. I’m very honoured and excited to
rediscover the band again. For me ‘Of
The Flock and their self titled debut fell somewhere between Church of Misery
and Electric Wizard spliced with the
mighty Black Sabbath, but I think fans of High On Fire will also be delighted
with the band’s sound. ‘Merging the Light’ continues in the same vein but the
songs are more focused and more aggressive.
The EP opener “Breed, Consume, Die” is a monstrous tune
that pushes the boundaries for what heavy music could be. It starts with a
beautiful intro but after that you get a sense of the sludge-infused doom metal,
the type of which ITCOS are well-known for. The record has a nice balance between
groove and sheer ugliness. The muddy
guitar tone and the riffing keep my mind interested and excited during the
entire record. Grant’s voice sometimes reminds me of Kirk Windstein but with a
much more raspy delivery, it is the sound of fire straight from the mouth of
Hell. Lyrically the song seem to be about humanity’s need
to work so they can consume bullshit stuff that doesn’t enrich our lives.
The track ‘Third Mind’ could be one of the
best the band has produced to date, the fuzz-laden distortion and the rhythmic
groove has the intensity of a Ten Ton Hammer banging against your head and fills
me with joy and happiness. This is the
way music always should be. The song is completed with the dissonance from a swirling,
razor sharp solo stabbing you in the throat, and ‘how I love feeling, like I’m gasping
for breathe’.
The EP closer ‘A Union of Opposites’ could be the
absolute opposite to the previous song and is perhaps their most dynamic song
so far. Tribal drumming opens the track, with tremolo picking and the absolute
beautiful atmospheric aura. The vocals are anguished and tormented and both
mournful and soulful at the same time.
If I have to say one negative thing about the record,
it would be that it is way too short. Only 22 minutes but on the other hand it
means that I can repeat it many times on my way to work. This is a band that I will come back to a lot
and for me this could be a record we will remember as a classic in the future
Words by: Sven-Åke
Alveving
You
can pick up the limited LP/DD here.
For more
information:
