Black Serpent: Shadowside Devilcosm (2017)

Black Serpent is an Australian band that is essentially a one-man project.  The primary band member Nightcraft Serpentaxe (may or may not be his real name) performs all of the vocals and guitar duties and brings in session drummers.  I picked up this album as a throw-in when I bought the Mythic album from yesterday.

I did not know much about this project before getting the album, but I figured an Australian black/death metal band is sure to be at least somewhat interesting.  That is the case here, although I would argue that the band is more of a death metal band that happens to be somewhat melodic a la Amon Amarth or Apophis.  Apophis is probably the best comparison I can draw here, not to say that this is as impressive as that band, but the music is very similar.  The listener is hit with a barrage of riffs and melodies that work to get the blood pumping.  The vocals are generally just grunted, but that can work out with certain bands.  It would be nice to have a little more variety in this one, but it is not really a problem.

This is a generally entertaining release, but it does not do enough to stand out.  It kind of lacks the memorable quality of similar bands, even though it holds attention while it is on.  Black Serpent is kind of an off-and-on project, having released two EPs in 2008 and then this one nine years later.  It is difficult to say when a new release may be coming.