Year : 2021
Style : Heavy Metal
Country : Greece
Audio : 320 kbps + front
Size : 158 mb
Bio:
Greek Heavy Metal hailing from Thessaloniki - Est. 2016.Serpent Lord deliver a harrowing dose of occult heavy metal, with every aspect from their stage presence, to the musical production, exhuding depth and atmospheric darkness. Having shared the stage with legends such as Primordial, Rotting Christ, Blaze Bayley, Necronomicon, Innerwish, Omen, Grand Magus, Exarsis, Northwind and many others, Serpent Lord pride themselves in delivering a show to encapsulate the crowd; “For us, it’s not just a live show, it is a ritual. The songs talk about rituals, about magic and religions, about demons, so we try to create the appropriate atmosphere on our shows”. Think Archangel banners, skulls, candles, books of magic, and even stage-side monks.Having initially founded in 2016, the 13th of May 2017 saw the band release their first demo, coinciding with their show with Omen, which included the songs “Sacrilegium” [https://youtu.be/nRr9aNJQA6A] and “Blood Offering” [https://youtu.be/UmHosQShOGk]. The band sold 150 initial copies of the demo and gained great reviews from webzines and magazines around the world. A few months later, the band hit the studio so as to records its debut album, called “Towards the Damned”. The recordings were done at Infected Studios (summer 2017-winter 2018) with George Infected (Mass Infection) as a producer. George managed to give a late eighties –early nineties sound to the band, being influenced from Iced Earth’s and Death’s sound, but with a modern aspect. On May 14 2018, the band released its first video clip taken from the album, for “The Lesser Key” [https://youtu.be/kjtpKyp9KD4]. The music video was directed by Bob Katsionis (guitars/keyboards at Firewind, Outloud).The bands debut album “Towards the Damned” was later released on September 14th 2018 via Alcyone Records which received rave reviews. The album contained 10 powerful songs, from which one is instrumental, one is an atmospheric ballad and another one is written in Phrygian language. The album was selected as "Album of the Month" on the Greek Metal Hammer, while it gained great reviews from Powerplay Magazine, Fireworks, Rock Overdose, Metal.de, Rock Hard Greece, Ultraje, etc.A couple of months after the album’s release, on December 22nd, the band released its second video clip for the song “Seed of Divine” [https://youtu.be/55hw9TJUHhU], once again directed by Bob Katsionis. Serpent Lord’s third video clip is for the song “Ambassador of the New Age” [https://youtu.be/26SSVW-rYSA] (released on April 22nd 2019) and it’s a live music video, video shot by Christos Manidakis and edited/directed by Giannis Antoniou.The band accomplished its first European tour on May 2019, called "The Damned Tour - Europe Under Damnation", supporting the legendary thrash metal Germans Necronomicon. Serpent Lord (GR) visited Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Romania, for six shows. Before their tour, they performed at the 1st Lake Metal Festival at Kastoria, with Rotting Christ.On November 26th 2019, Serpent Lord (GR) released their double-sided single entitled “Horned God”, which includes the song “Horned God” [https://youtu.be/DaLEolKtzfM] and a cover of Death’s “Sacred Serenity” [https://youtu.be/lq9skoh1ggI], with clean vocals. Both the new song and the cover, show a more aggressive, progressive and atmospheric approach of the band. The single has gained great reviews from the fans and the press worldwide.On December 2019, Serpent Lord (GR) accomplished a seven-date Greek tour with Blaze Bayley (ex- Iron Maiden).During the worldwide pandemic, the band took the opportunity to deliver “The Gospel of Judas” [https://youtu.be/lJn11j6edbM] on December 15th 2020, which was recorded on summer 2020 at Infected Studios, with George Stournaras (Mass Infection) as producer, once again. The band also released a new lyric video for the song, made by Giannis Antoniou.Through perseverance and worldwide exposure, Serpent Lord as of 2021 are now proud to announce the worldwide record deal with From The Vaults [https://fromthevaults.dk] , stay tuned for news on tour dates and releases coming soon.
Album:
It was once foretold by Aleister Crowley that if you are ‘walking in darkness’, do not try to make the sun rise by self-sacrifice, but wait in confidence for the dawn, and enjoy the pleasures of the night meanwhile. But if such pleasures could be translated into its archaic properties, where its essence is unraveled into that of sound, its true nature would be Serpent Lord’s ‘Apocrypha’, for it is like alchemy from whence gold becomes fashioned from sand, so too does Serpent Lord’s incantations transfigure the atrament of night into a grimoire whose pages are laced with the ink of the obsidian skies.At its core, the vessel that is ‘Apocrypha’ offers an atmospheric, yet grandiose doom-like delectation that entices the senses of the listener, for the amalgamation of both the vocals and the instrumental aspects weave a tapestry which fabric feels ancient, yet if one’s finger were to trace the intricacies of such art, to feel its weathered exterior, you would witness the tales hidden within its details and this brings me to the first positive where the album is concerned, that is its esoteric aura from which it emanates in all its splendor.For it is like the author who pens a sonnet, if the words that touch the page come naught from the well of emotions, then all that is created becomes brittle and hollow. Serpent Lord’s composition on ‘Apocrypha’ however transcends the very the spirit in which it manifests, what is meant by this is that while the album releases a sable undertone to its sound, it arrives natural as it never feels contrived nor does it cast the illusion of one who scraps the dirt of the earth expecting its sand to teem with water, instead where ‘Apocrypha’ shines throughout is in its organic candor evoking a cimmerian tone.Songs such as ‘The Final Horseman’ and ‘Damned To Live’ dispel an occult like glow to its evocation especially where the vocals are concerned, for this is the diadem of stars upon the album’s crown. The vox in my opinion is the force that wills the curling smoke from a ceremonial pyre to shape, as the tongue that spouts such verses seems to be mixed with that of warning and reverie for a deity that is ancient in being. Take for instance, the track , ‘Love Covenant’, at its epicenter, just like the overall album, it is more vocal-centric, and this is not a negative, for the epic proportions of the register used grants an air of dominance over ‘Apocrypha’ where the voice becomes the prophet that leads the precession which in turn is the instrumental variables upon the album, in other words, it is the music that sways to the will of the words spoken forth by the vocalist.If the vocals become that which breathes life into this entity, the very spells that bestows power to dormant bones laying in its sepulcher, the instrumental variables would be the aftermath of from which was casted, for it is the tissues, sinew, and skin that is grafted to this skeletal structure, completing its transformation. ‘Cursed Roots’ is a track which demonstrates this sentiment, as the strings and percussive elements manifest a sonorous aura to its playing, as the fusion of both grooves and the meandering up-tempo riffing assists in accentuating the tenebrific spirit, especially where its mellifluous rhythmic compositions are concerned, for it illuminates the finer moments on ‘Apocrypha’. Like a serpentine creature that meanders upon the weakened flesh, coiling and slithering, so too does the musical variations come forth on the album, in a creeping yet malefic ambience that obnubilates the light from fluttering candles.‘Apocrypha’ in my opinion becomes the vector between that from whence was conjured from bone and earth to the beast that was birthed from the dust and words. Where Serpent Lord excels is constructing a mosaic of doom-laden monuments where its spirit can inhibit and dwell, and it is because of these intrinsic features is why I would declare this an excellent work of art.
Line-Up:
Marios Arikas - Vocals (2017-present)
Konstantinos Sotirelis - Bass, Vocals (backing) (2016-present) - See also: ex-Mandragore, ex-Rotting Flesh, ex-Kin Beneath Chorus (live), ex-Sørgelig (live)
George Terzitanos - Guitars, Vocals (backing) (2016-present) - See also: ex-Beyond the Existence (live)
Lazaros Bouroutzoglou - Guitars (2019-present) - See also: Vile Extortion (live)
Tracklist:
01. The Final Horseman 05:14
02. Divine Plane 05:01
03. Hail to Nothingness 04:25
04. Love Covenant 04:29
05. Inner Darkness 05:00
06. Damned to Live 05:12
07. Evil Source 03:42
08. Humanity's End 04:20
09. Cursed Roots 05:07
Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/
