In the Company of Serpents are a doom metal band from the US and this is their fifth album.
I’ve enjoyed watching In the Company of Serpents ply their heaviness over the years. From 2014’s Merging in Light, to 2017’s Ain-Soph Aur, to 2020’s Lux, the band have always put releases out that hit the spot for me. Now, five years after their last album, we have the 44-minute A Crack in Everything to satiate our need for sludge/doom soundscapes.
A Crack in Everything is a mix of rolling doomgroove and Western-style Americana. It’s a combination that probably shouldn’t work, but it does. It helps lend the music a idiosyncratic character that sets it apart. It’s the next logical step after Lux, building on that record’s strengths by adopting them fully and running with them. There is a guest spot from the singer of Goya on one track too.
The music is ripe with charismatic material. The riffs are meaty and the instrumental workouts super engaging. There are hooks that draw you in over time, and atmosphere that pulls you along for the ride. The guitars and vocals contribute to this a huge amount, but the rest is not to be discounted either. The songs have a lot of component parts, all collected under the In the Company of Serpents banner and compelled to become a collection of songs greater than the sum of their parts. You can hear doom metal, sludge, classic rock, Americana, and more. It all works holistically to provide the listener with music that feels organic and unforced, be this hard rocking guitar parts, rough vocals laden with personality, nuanced drumming, emotive solos, or much else.
In the Company of Serpents have made a record that keeps you coming back for more. A Crack in Everything is an album that spends its duration well, covering its gritty bases, while soaring to the heavens. It contains some of the band’s most satisfying material, and is likely to be considered as their strongest album so far.
Very highly recommended.
Wonderbox Metal 