CoC : Serpent Obscene - Serpent Obscene : Review

Serpent Obscene - _Serpent Obscene_
(Necropolis, 2000)
by: Aaron McKay (4.5 out of 10)

Nine tracks of some pretty straightforward death metal totaling about twenty-nine minutes. Maybe it is that there is -so- much superior music to choose from that the average has become almost sub-standard. Something like to us a college degree today is what a high school diploma was to our parents. Anyway, Serpent Obscene is frustrating, speaking to the point that in their music there are some massively impressive and alluring "breaks" ever-present throughout this self-titled debut, but yet they manage to become meandering and convoluted very quickly thereafter. This is baffling. As the first example on the release, track two, "Serpent Prophecy", around the minute and a half mark, lasting about forty-five seconds, displays SO's nice riff capability, choppy and heavy, but then all that fades into samey, everyday momentum playing. If this was designed to tease the listener that SO do possess talent and can play metal riffs with the best of 'em, it worked; but the unwanted side-effect is that it pisses me off, too. Very little guitar soloing traded in exchange for a more all-out campaign for speed. Most of track five, "Pestilent Seed (The Plague)", especially the beginning, is well executed and manipulated with promise, so in addition to "Serpent Prophecy", "Pestilent Seed (The Plague)" and "Morbid Horror" are my other choice cuts from _Serpent Obscene_ showing, I think, the band's greatest promise for future success. Hope lies dormant for Serpent Obscene as of now, but this, of course, is just their debut. With the promise of two more releases for Necropolis and, I'm told, a strong second demo awhile ago dubbed _Massacre_, things could very well turn around for this group.

(article published 20/11/2000)

ALBUMS
15/5/2006	J Smit	7	Serpent Obscene - Chaos Reign Supreme