Band:	Serpent Of Old
Album:	Ensemble Under The Dark Sun
Style:	Black metal, Death metal
Release date:	June 2023

01. The Sin Before The Great Sin
02. Unsaturated Hunger And Esoteric Lust
03. The Fall
04. Virtue Of The Devil In His Loins
05. From The Impending Dusk
06. Idiosyncrasy

If you ever wanted to experience the true nature of the almighty apocalypse without actually being a part of it, then take a listen to what this Old dreadful Serpent has unleashed unto us. Through Ensemble Under A Dark Sun you'll be treated to some of the heaviest, darkest, most blackened disso-death you'll likely hear this year.

Having formed only back in 2019, the Turkish black/death metal band Serpent Of Old may not exactly be considered an 'old' Serpent just yet, but four years after their establishment, we are now presented with their debut release, Ensemble Under A Dark Sun. This is an album featuring only six tracks in total, with a running time of 42 minutes in length.

The style this band goes by is equal portions of death and black metal. While primarily focusing on elements from both of these extreme genres, you could perhaps simply go by the title of blackened death as a subgenre for Serpent Of Old. However, as you will quickly realize, this is a band unlike anything you have likely heard within that specific genre tag. Yes, it's likely you'll hear blackened death influences from the likes of Behemoth throughout several parts of the album, but those influences will be ever so minor on the grand scale of things; you'll also hear The Chasm, Ulcerate, Dead Congregation, and Decipher on the death side of things, while on the blackened side, you could well hear influences of Deathspell Omega, and maybe even glimpses of Blut Aus Nord's dissonance and obscurity thrown in from time to time.

Simply put, this album contains a wide variety of influences and styles that range across both the black and death metal spectra. There's no denying that, but with those influences comes a sound and structure that's true to their own. What I find truly staggering about this album is its sheer heaviness: here, they manage to create this all-impressive menacing sound and atmosphere, and it's mostly done by the distinctive, heavy guitar tone. The tone really helps set that genuine apocalyptic soundscape in motion, making it feel as though the world itself is being crushed into smithereens right before our very eyes and we can only hold on helplessly as we are dragged into our infinite doom. There's no denying its disso-death structural approach, but there's nothing outrageously complex about the structure either, melody-wise at least; it's more to do with the densely oversaturating, layered production and menacing tone rather than the riffs and melodies themselves, which are actually quite striking.

The album opens in a dramatic fashion with "The Sin Before The Great Sin". This is a track beyond what I would usually consider heavy myself; at the very least, me calling this track "heavy" would simply be an understatement. It opens with such a densely thick, doom-like atmosphere that it feels like you could literally cut it with a knife. The deep, death-doom-like riff patterns slowly build up, making way for the blackened mid-tempo tremolos and leads to eventually kick in. Once the leads begin to take shape, the thunderously pounding blast beats begin, which are then accompanied by some deep, menacingly monstrous death growls. In the meantime, the blackened tremolo riffs continue to surge on through.

From here on, the sheer power and unrelenting heaviness that the first track provides simply don't end. In fact, the only time this album takes a breather from its relentless heavy bombardment is during the short interval (fifth track), "Virtue Of The Devil Is In His Loins". This interval is followed by what I would personally consider the standout track of the album, "From The Impending Dusk". With its dissonant, yet strikingly melodic, and dark atmospheric approach, the track gives off a sort of Deathspell Omega-meets-Behemoth kind of vibe. The track also contains some of the best and most memorable riffs, which are bone-crushingly heavy and played at mid-tempo for the most part, yet contain a certain melodic approach that keeps you hooked throughout. The track also contains eerie background chants, which adds to that sheer overwhelmingly dark, intense atmosphere.

The other element I find stands out is the leads, particularly the solo featured on "Unsaturated Hunger And Esoteric Lust". This is a short yet striking melodic closing lead that revitalises the album momentarily from its manically insane structure, another classic example of how the band are able to mix things up from time to time. I would say there's a slight grey area worth mentioning in what is pretty much a stellar release, and that's the production. With this amount of layering in place. I can only imagine how difficult it must be to find the perfect mix. For me, there seems to be an oversaturated, almost suffocating feel to it. Perhaps this could have been made intentionally, as they may have wanted to crush the listener's very soul under the album's intensely powerful apocalyptic soundscape.

Warning: This album is not for easy listening; prepare yourself for a massively heavy onslaught, just as you'd expect for the incoming apocalypse.