Serpent Corpse – Blood Sabbath (Review)

Serpent Corpse are a Canadian death metal band and this is their debut album.

I’m a bit late to the Serpent Corpse party, but Blood Sabbath is definitely worth catching up on. It’s a hideously enjoyable slab of 38-minute death metal that’s as fun as it is well-crafted.

One of the things which makes Blood Sabbath such a success is its solid songwriting. Serpent Corpse understand what makes classic death metal so moreish, and focus all of their considerable might into creating songs that take advantage of how effective death metal hooks, riffs, and dynamics can be.

Serpent Corpse have a talent for writing good, meaty riffs, and wisely fuse these with the rest of the musical ingredients to ensure that the songs are greater than the sum of their parts. The album has so many quality riffs, rhythms, and grooves that it’s more memorable and laden with hooks than that of the releases of many of their peers. Add to this a skill at crafting the sort of macabre atmosphere that this type of nasty music needs, and you have a collection songs that are surprisingly strong for a mere debut album.

This approach to songcraft has lead to the many standout moments that the album boasts. As just one such example, the build up to the roaring of Nemesis‘ title, followed by such a mindlessly catchy riff, is flawlessly realised. Honestly, the thing gets stuck in your head for days.

Blood Sabbath contains the sort of deliciously rotten old-school death metal feast that’s hard to beat. It leaves a foul taste in your mouth for sure, but it’s a taste that ensure you’ll come back for more, as the guitars smash in your head and the drums beat you all over. Yep, this is the good stuff.

Very highly recommended.