Serpentine Path is the new child of the Unearthly Trance
boys and Tim Bagshaw, guitarist for Ramesses and previous bassist of Electric
Wizard. This debut self-titled EP contains two dirging, sludgy doom tracks
called Erebus and Depravity, and comes in the form of a 7-inch
record limited to only 500 copies. Ramesses were a band that never really
garnered much attention or good reviews, despite being related to Electric
Wizard, but I’ve always thought they were absolutely deadly, and the vibe on
this record is far more similar to Ramesses’ evil doom than to Unearthly
Trance’s Neurosis-like sludge. In fact this plays out pretty much just like a
slowed down version of Ramesses.
Erebus drags its slimy arse despondently through the
mud at snail’s pace for about the first 5 minutes, and then finally picks itself up into a riff
that is just slow (instead of really fucking slow). Ryan Lipynsky’s vocals reek
of black metal and torture as they hover grimly over the ever-so-deep guitar
tones. Depravity has one riff and it alternates between the main slow,
version and a speedier, battering variation of it.
These are decent songs, but they don’t end up going
anywhere. The release is just too short for this kind of slow music to make any
real developments during the course of it. It could also just as well pass for
a Ramesses release except the riffs are not as killer, thus why I don’t think
this little morsel of metal is really going to turn any heads. But, that said,
this is a band full of very talented musicians and it would be well worth
keeping your eyes peeled for future releases.
In summary: Fledgling status release that feels like an
experiment, not worth checking out unless you really can’t get enough Ramesses.
Standout tracks: Erebus
Score: 6.0
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