Serpent Omega :"II"

This Swedish band come on strong with their sophomore release, which is saved by the fact they has a female singer . She makes them more interesting as if this had been a male voice their rumbling metallic take on sludge would have sounded like everything else. She bellows more than she actually sings. This kind of music is not what you expect from Sweden until she growls on the second , then it has more of a death metal influence. She can actually sing as it is show not to deep into this song. Her voice reminds me of Kayrn Crisis. She has done a little session work , but otherwise nothing of note until now. They are not melancholy to be doom, though at times they meet at the crossroads of doom and sludge. The melody the guitars bring to "Rivers of Reversed" take them to such a place.

"Through the Gates" finds the pace picking up into a rowdy almost punk thrashing . It is a jarring left turn from what they have established on the previous songs, but still kinda csatchy so I support it. They slow back down on "Cthonic" though at first lisen I thought it was a dynamic shift of the previous song. They touch on their more thrashing side with " At the Mountains Edge" . They slow into a rumble and di not reach the punk velocity they previous threw themselves into when caught up in a similar vibe before. To this band's credit they do not waste you time with long droning excursion and the longest song is around the seven minute mark,  I also do not hear much in terms of a black metal influence even when she is snarlling.

The last song is more of an outro than a proper song. There is a whispering narrative. On second listen this album began to grow on me more. If you like your metal lumbering and more straight forward, yet with a marginally different angle to it then this is the album for you. I will give this album an 8.5, I enjoyed the listens I gave it though not sure thisi s something I can see warranting a great deal of time in my iPod after the fact. This album sees a September release on Icons Creating Evil Art.