Review SERPENT CORPSE ‘Blood Sabbath’

Serpent Corpse is a rather new band, hailing from Montreal, Canada. The heavyweights have unleashed the other day a debut album called ‘Blood Sabbath’, a nine-track album with a lot of firepower. Rooted in oldschool death metal the quartet stands for straight forward songwriting that at no point becomes boring.

Entombed and Bolt Thrower are bands that come to my mind while listening to mighty riff monster such as the six-minute epos ‘Land of Rot and Misfortune’. Furthermore, there is the howling ‘Let the Rats Feed’ with screaming guitars, a massively working rhythm section and crushing guitars. Based on a slower pace the song is like a musical Moskstraumen version that slowly catches you and will not let you go again.

One might think that the title track takes a similar approach. With seven minutes running time the closer is the longest track on the album and starts rather dynamic and with solid speed. Tempo-breaks are the tool of the day to provide a long-time listening delight and the slower middle part is a pure invitation for headbanging. Even a rather tight and heavy pounding section is embedded in this massive riff assault, giving the song a nicely placed variation.

‘Crucifixion Shrine’ is with nearly three minutes one of the shorter tracks on the album and at same time shows the versatility of the band. Starting with a throbbing beat the listener almost gets the impression of listening to an instrumental, also since it takes a while before the deep growls kick in. In combination with a pace change the song takes an adjusted path and captivate the listener by its energy. And listen to ‘Dream of Crows’ with its massive groove the Slayer-esque leads.

‘Blood Sabbath’ is a fresh and passionate album from a band that just started. In combination with a great sound, it is this debut that belongs to the great ones in 2023 so far.