Serpent Obscene

When the album cover and song titles are both obviously related to some conceptual massacre of humanity as a result of a darkness usurping the land, it’s easy to understand what’s coming. The record will either be an intense journey into keyboard overload or thrash madness courtesy of the superior bands of the ’80s, namely Metallica and Slayer. Coming in with a petty and appalling delivery of the latter, this band fails to captivate the imagination and leads to a swift but serious bout with attention deficit disorder. The idiosyncrasies and ingenuity that made those bands metal legends are completely absent, abducted by the droning double bass kick and endless tremolo insanity. The guitar solos leave one feeling cheated of the triumph that is supposed to come after the second chorus. At moments it’s also reminiscent of Death, but without the touch of Chuck’s thoughtful and melodic guitar riffs. This record is perfect for extreme head banging, which is facilitated by your brain melting as a result Serpent Obscene’s flair for inducing neural inactivity.