Serpentes – Desert PSALMS

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8.0

• Band:
  Serpentes
• Duration: 00:46:32
• Available from: 04/18/2025
• Label:

• Norma Evangelium Diaboli

Period of exits for the Evangelium Diaboli standard which, after the interlocutory Svartsyn and the Teitanblood bomb, closes this first triptych of publications of 2025 with the debut of the Serpentes, a project led by the Portuguese A.AA (Angrenost), flanked here by two Misþyming members.
With these premises it is easy to guess which paths this “Desert Psalms” goes to parry: starting from a modern and esoteric black metal in the wake of Funeral Mist, the last Marduk and debtor (necessarily) of the Icelandic school, the seven chapters of the disc also demonstrate how important the influence of a group such as the Deathspell Omega is.
The music of the Serpentes in fact, albeit going beyond the classical structures and codes of the genre never ventures too much in too brainy and complex compositions, using that balance between avant -garde and tradition of a disc such as “Si Monvmentvm Reqvires, Circvmspice” to create an oppressive, austere but never impenetrable atmosphere.
“Desert PSALMS” opens with a sad female song that flows in almost ten minutes of ritual and slow rhythms, which slowly increase to explode in a vortex made of blast-beat, riff walls and guitar phrasing always poised between dissonance and melody.
That of the Serpentes is a music full of tension and despair, also and above all transmitted by the violent vocal test of Dagur Gíslason (Misþyming), who chooses a declamatory style that goes well with the rest. “II” has the violence and intensity of the Icelandic black school, while the subsequent “III” features a solo guitar as protagonist that winds through the duration of the piece almost as if it were a continuous solo, to support dissonant riffs and dramatic keyboards: an infinite climb towards a purgatory that will never arrive.
The same speech can be made for “VI” which however increased the avant -garde component with a result close to certain Dødheimsgard for its eclecticism but filtered through the terrifying visions of the Deathspell Omega.
In some songs, the disc pulls the handbrake of the experimentation and gives more direct but equally effective extreme moments: “IV” and “V” are a perfect example, while the influence of the French comes out completely in the open with the final “VII”, a long epic ride with orchestral hints and supported by an excellent solo work.
A surprising album, this “PSALMS deert”, capable of bringing out a genuinely gloomy and disturbing mood, keeping the bridge intact with the purest tradition of the genre, dotted with all that originally was done by those bands that have not been afraid to experience and evolve.
Not a milestone, of course, but a great work that deserves to rise well above the average of the current outputs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx2jsbmrzcu