(written by Islander)
Serpent Skies are a Swedish melodic death metal band from Gävle, Sweden who are returning after a 13-year hiatus with a new chapter in their story.
The band’s current incarnation was formed in 2012. Drawing their inspirations from the classic Gothenburg sound, they released a debut EP named Graveyard Poets that same year, and followed it with a debut album in 2013 titled A Claim To Reality. And then they fell silent for a very long time.
But as noted above, that extensive period of silence has ended. Serpent Skies have recorded a second album, Hollow Crown, which is now set for release on November 20th. It is described as “a thematically driven album exploring identity, inner conflict, loss of control, sacrifice and the struggle to define who we are”.
The band announced their return with a first single from the new album called “The Colors of My Truth“, and today we present a video for its second single, “Where Is Your God“.
The pace of change in all things has been so rapid that today’s world is in many ways almost unrecognizably different from 2013’s. As in all things, heavy music has changed as well, often evolving dramatically. Genre terminology is now littered with classifications that would have drawn blank stares 13 years ago, and many people who were paying close attention to extreme metal in 2013 are likely listening to very different music today.
It’s also a rarity to find a band who were releasing music back then to still have their own interests and inspirations intact after so much life has gotten in the way. But Serpent Skies’ love for classic strains of Swedish melodic death metal has clearly not waned, and their talent for updating it is impressive.
For some of us their new music may appeal to our nostalgia, while for others it may function as the kind of gateway many of us found such a long time ago, a new and burnished portal into vast soundscapes of musical extremity. Either way, the new songs are a big kick to hear.
And while Serpent Skies’ inspirations are still recognizable in their new music, it would be mistaken to think of them as mere clones or relics of a bygone age. We’ll repeat what we wrote soon after hearing the first single last month:
The vocals are one of the strongest features of “The Colors of My Truth“. The Serpent Skies frontman [Ludvig Setterlind] has an enviable ability to scorch listeners and then send his powerful voice up to the borderline of melodic clean singing in the choruses without crossing all the way over for more than a moment.
As for the music around him, the rippling and ringing guitar instrumental that opens the song creates a lonely depressive vibe, but when the drums kick in, the band intensify that melody and then begin surging, with the beats galloping and the riffing generating a fiery pulse.
The music swerves between those vigorously jolting verses and more melodically panoramic and melancholy chorus phases, undergirded by big bass throbs and dynamic drum rhythms. At the end, those ringing guitars beautifully bring us back to the beginning. The video by Daniel Wahlström that accompanied the song is quite good too.
And now we turn to the song we’re premiering today. “Where Is Your God” is described as “a dark exploration of faith, doubt and the moment belief begins to collapse”, confronting “the question of what remains when the answers you once believed in disappear.” It arrives with a striking animated video that well-suits the song’s frightening auras.
And it definitely is a frightening piece of music, much more ominous, harrowing, and crushing than the first single, and thus a strong signal of Serpent Skies’ songwriting dynamism as presented through Hollow Crown.
In its opening phase the caustic riffing distressingly blares and wails above steadily cracking beats, rapid double-kick assaults, and earth-moving bass heaviness. When the gritty vocals arrive, their ravenous fury is startling, and the music becomes both even more fearful and more brutishly hulking. The music seems to scream but also to belligerently surge and slug.
The song continues building tension, and this time the vocalist extends his impressive range into actual singing, which only elevates the song’s distressing intensity. Near the song’s mid-point the music also shifts, seeming to writhe in agony while the lead guitar spills out grief in shattering terms. A murmuring bass and high-flying singing only deepen the song’s stricken sensations.
When the harsh vocals return in frightening fashion, the music brings forward great darkness and mauling heaviness again, generating a kind of oppressive hopelessness even as it gets listeners’ heads moving again. And thus the music can be thought of as an expression of both brutalizing rage and wrenching pain.
Credit for the animation, video production, and editing goes to Jani Stefanovic / Lightcrest Visuals, with additional editing and visual effects by Ludvig Setterlind.
As noted, the Hollow Crown album will be released on November 20th, and it’s recommended for fans of In Flames, Soilwork, Dark Tranquillity, Halo Effect, and Arch Enemy. For more info, visit the locations linked below:
https://www.instagram.com/serpentskies/
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063598901266
https://open.spotify.com/album/2nxGbCNtLRDyy7Ecbrw8I5
https://music.apple.com/us/artist/serpent-skies/857639045
