[Review] SERPENT OMEGA - "II" [2020] Icons Creating Evil Art

 

One of my all time favourite bands has to be Sweden's Sludge/Doom murk dwellers SERPENT OMEGA. Their debut self-titled album was a masterpiece of blackened, filthy, squalor swimming Doom. After 7 years, they have finally returned with "II", and my how things have progressed...

Released through ICONS CREATING EVIL ART on CD and a fabulous looking 12" vinyl, Serpent Omega's 'II' is a triumphant return, and a ferocious slab of unyielding grime encrusted Doom Metal. Opening track 'Orug Nuur' is an angry, pulsating  beast of a song, practically thrumming with fuzzed out bass and showcasing vocalist Urskogr's primal roar. To me the production is spot on, creating a thick, satisfying rumble from the drumming of Peter Stjärnvind (Formally of Entombed/Nifelheim fame) as well as a ravenous fury from the riffs, like an incendiary device unleashed, the air is sucked from the room and all that's left is the roaring, bellowing noise of destruction.

I always felt that there was a lot more going on in the sound of Serpent Omega

than just straight up Sludge/Doom. An element of Swedish Death Metal is almost certainly present and the band have a cold streak that can only come from the influence of Black Metal. One of my favourite songs, not just of "II" but of the band as a whole and in general is 'Rivers of Riversed' which has a slower pace, a far more groove laden sound and also lets Urskogr reveal her haunting cleaner vocals, as well as intoxicating lyrics that speak of an all encompassing doom. 

If the last track was menacing ribbon of silk to the senses, then 'Through the Gates of the Dead' is the polar opposite. A rampaging, cavernous war metal blast of anger, a short sharp blast of true spite. And for me that epitomises Serpent Omega, a band who can conjure up incredible rage, a primordial immense seething frenzy, and then break things down to a rhythmic beautiful and captivating melody. Always savage though, that never leaves, always lurking.

Serpent Omega: https://serpentomega.bandcamp.com/