Serpens Aeon (Washington state, USA)

ABOUT: "Epic Death/Thrash Metal from Seattle WA."

Metal Archives shows: Demo 2000 Demo 2000; Dawn of Kouatl Full-length 2003.

A certain individual named "natrix" at Metal Archives says:

What do you get when you take two former Chasm members, move them to cold and rainy Seattle, and put in a very energetic and violent drummer? Well, you could say something good, but that would be a real understatement. You get Serpens Aeon, who carry the flag of traditional metal ahead in a blaze of destruction and glory.

Comparisons with The Chasm are unavoidable; there is use of some sweeping chords and the old school metal sound is omnipresent. But Serpens Aeon is a lot simpler in its riffing, ditching a lot of the Burzum-esque chording for traditional power chords and ruthless old school tremelo picking. The drumming also differs, in that Matt Cason is fucking fast. Many blast beats and tempo changes pop up in numerous places over the course of a song.

Right off the bat, the album hits you square in the face with a rolling, bludgeoning riff of "Foresaken thy God," before it goes into a full on blast beat. Crushing thrash riffs collide with tremolo picked mania, resulting in a well crafted train wreck, as Luis Martinez growls out hymns to Aztec gods and curses against the modern world. Then, Erik Diaz whips out some tasteful solos, running the gamut from Trey Azagthoth's whammy bar insanity, to some absolutely beautiful, melodic picking reminiscent of Iron Maiden. Just check out "Under the Fifth Sun" for a collasal array of riffs and the best solos on here. Fuck!

It is with great pleasure that I can say that the production is tight. Drums sound very crisp, very wild, and the guitars and vocals are perfectly balanced. I would have preferred more bass, but fuck it, this is metal of death, not Korn.

The cover of Grave's "Extremely Rotten Flesh" comes across a bit thin, and I think it's mainly because of the guitar tone. Whereas Grave's original version was thick and muddy, giving it a real nasty sound, Serpens Aeon's thrashier sound just sounds a bit out of place. Still, not a useless song, and rather interesting to see their take on an old classic.

I can't give this a perfect score because it is not perfect, but this is one hell of a bombshell.

Winds of Hatred