Serpent Omega – II

8/10

Swedish doom/sludge behemoth Serpent Omega emerged on the scene in 2013 with their self titled debut album, which made a huge impact on both me as well as on the rest of the metal underground.

Now, seven years have passed and it’s finally time for a long awaited follow up. The album simply named “II”, kicks off very strong with the killer track “Orog Nuur”. This song I actually had heard prior to recieving the full record. It’s everything you love and remember from seven years ago, with the insanely groovy riffing accompanied with a superb atmosphere and possessed vocals straight from the mental asylum. Perhaps a bit more catchy than the debut album stuff, so obviously their song writing has progressed.

“Land Of Darkness” then continues to bash our faces in with it’s hammer heavy riffage. This is so damn good. Superb song with both a bit chaotic outro as well as some unexpected melodic, more catchy influences. This duo really has the album of to a more than promising start, but it’s at the third track this record really peaks for me. The majestic and magnificent “Rivers Of Reversed” has got to be one of the best songs of the entire year. A pretty long and eerie intro leads us into crushing doom metal, yet like the previous songs this one also has some melodic parts, like for example a highly memorable chorus. World class all the way through. A truly haunting masterpiece.

In comparison to the first three tracks, “Through The Gates” doesn’t have the same atmosphere, but is a little bit more straight forward. No nonsense metal. When we get to “Chthonic” however, we get more of that super heavy doom. This absolute beast is really evil sounding. Ritualistic chanting and face melting riffs gives this unholy creation an almost spiritual feeling. My favourite song of the album together with “Rivers Of Reversed” and “Orog Nuur”.

“At The Mountains Edge” starts off with a very memorable intro riff and continues very nicely as a very heavy song. Top class stuff this one as well and I really have to compliment singer “Urskogr” for an otherworldly kind of performance both on this particular song as well as on the album as a whole. Her primal yet beautiful voice is truly one of the best things about Serpent Omega.

The album finishes with the powerful and highly atmospheric outro “Av Aska” and even though I maybe feel this would have been more suitable as an intro, that is just my preference and a small detail.

If you have read the entire review you probably already figured out that I like this album a lot. If not, I’ll write it here in the summary as well. I really like this album a lot. Sure, there are almost always details to work on and perfect ones work, but let’s focus on the impressive growth Serpent Omega have been through since the last record. I mean, I really like that album as well, but this is another level when it comes to everything from production and song writing, as well as the overall feeling of the the record.

Bringing in power house Peter Stjärnvind from legendary acts such as Merciless, Unanimated, Nifelheim and Entombed (to name a few) on the drums, was obviously a good thing. The whole band really stepped up and brought their A game. This is an album filled with bangers and I think it’s going to be quite impossible keeping this monster out of the top ten list for 2020.

Artist: Serpent Omega
Title: II
Label: Icons Creating Evil Art
Date of release: 4/9-20
Time: 38:25
Rating: 8/10
Stand out track: Rivers Of Reversed