Shrine of the Serpent / Black Urn - Shrine of the Serpent | Black Urn (2017)
When we last heard from Shrine of the
Serpent, it was with their debut EP, back in 2015, so it's nice to
see that the band is still going. They've resurfaced to do this
split with Black Urn (a band new to me personally, though they've
been around since about the same time SotS started), with just over
half an hour of material between two tracks from each band. Shrine
take the lead with “Desecrated Tomb”, a grim piece of exquisitely
heavy doom spiked with sludgy feedback on the strings and a gurgling
rasp on the vocals, drums pushing back against their near-burial in
the low-end resonance. Snarls of melody claw out from the persistent
pressure of the thrumming strings, generating a pull that's hard to
resist and effectively drawing listeners along into “Catacombs of
Flesh”, their second contribution to the split. The catacombs
bring a bit more of a death metal influence to bear, though it still
has that near-funereal doom feel of being submerged underground with
the weight the band brings to bear, and SotS burn hard until the end
comes with a decisive impact.
Black Urn's half of the split brings
cleaner tone for the strings, with the finger-slides audible and
emotive in their opener, “My Strength Lies Within Heavenless Plains”,
which amplifies the funeral doom vibe before bringing the death back
with a crash and violent escalation. That rage carries on through
the rest of the track, never falling back into restraint until
they've exhausted themselves. And when that time comes, it's picked
up by their heavy sludge cover of Alice In Chains' “Junkhead”,
the lyrics turned into unintelligible rasping howls. After hearing
the laughable 'doom' cover of Pink Floyd's “Money” from Doom Side
of the Moon recently, it's refreshing to hear a doom cover of a song
that doesn't drop the ball, and while it would have been fun to have
some of the original's harmonization for the choruses, Black Urn
bring a strong sense of non-faked character to their rendition.
Between the two bands, it's a damn good
time for those of you who like your doom dirty, kind of depressive,
and heavy as fuck. General advice of not operating heavy machinery
while using this applies, but if you do, be sure to play it loud
enough to scare anyone in range of your vehicle's speakers.
~ Gabriel
For Fans Of; Bell Witch, Heavydeath,
Hesperian Death Horse, Jupiterian, Mörk Gryning
Shrine of the Serpent Facebook • Black Urn Facebook • SotS Blog • SotS BandCamp • Black Urn BandCamp
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