Marduk

Serpent Sermon is the 12th studio album from black metal juggernaut Marduk. Founded in 1990 by guitarist Morgan Steinmeyer Hårkansson in Norrköping, Sweden, the dark-minded, bloody-lipped black metal band have never veered from their course. Driven to create and never flagging, they've regularly released fresh servings of aural violence over the years, refining their sound in the process. Following 2009's excellent, apocalyptic Wormwood (the titles of which refers to the comet whose appearance foretells the end of the world), Serpent Sermon evokes the scalding yet seductive incarnation of the Snake. The militant drumming gives the record an aggressive forward drive, while the riff structures twist and writhe in the ears, agonized and ecstatic. "Souls for Belial" rages and rails, calling down brimstone on the head of the most unclean's enemies, while the acidic vocals on "Gospel of the Worm" flicker tormentingly over the listener. Serpent Sermon is a sibilant, crawling record that caresses the listener with red-hot wires.