Serpent Throne - White Summer - Black Winter

Pennsylvania quartet Serpent Throne is one of those bands you may have not heard of just yet, but you not only need to, it’s my mission to make sure you ingest this at great length. The absolute grandiose nature of this music is not to be dismissed or overlooked by anyone from the most ardent metalhead to the stringent 70’s prog student. Yes, it’s really that good!

The last release The Battle of Old Crow was a fine collective of 70’s inspired metal that leaped up and over contemporaries, making them appear sad and directionless in one setting. White Summer - Black Winter takes that message and literally upends it with some monstrous riffs and sentimental throwback styling that simply screams Thin Lizzy ala the Fighting era. Seriously, if you can listen to “Headed for an Unmarked Grave” and not hear “For Those Who Love to Live” it’s amazing to me. I also hear the wondrous inspiration of Budgie, early Sabbath, many of the greats from the now distant past are channeled here. While the obvious earmarks of Sabbath and the like are here, the overpowering Lizzy sound is a brighter spot for me; the Scott Gorham feel to tracks like “Controlled By Lunar Forces” and “Riff Forest” just excites me to the point of random giggle fits. Well, not really, but it’s that damn good!

The facts that the band has no vocalist and sees absolutely no need for one is also a huge selling point for me these days. The seemingly lost art of the ‘musician’s band’ needs a severe recasting, and Serpent Throne is right in the middle of the mix, slaying and fine-tuning the art to pinpoint precision. I cannot state emphatically enough how important this band might be to preserving the past and the legacy of the metal that shaped what we hear and enjoy today. I was really impressed to see bands like Sir Lord Baltimore, Wishbone Ash, Leafhound and early Scorps on the band’s list of influences; some of these lesser known names need to be recognized, even if they were too often shadowed by Iommi and company for so long. There are some truly impressive and nearly-perfect tunes on this album. The band keeps getting better as it goes, and that bodes well for us fans of this genre that seems rife with bands that simply can’t ‘get it’ to the degree that Serpent Throne does.

“Pagan Eclipse” is one of the more entrancing tracks on White Summer - Black Winter with its perfect blend of prog-metal atmosphere and doomy sentiment hanging overhead. However, let me state again that every single track on this album is an absolute winner. I must further heartily agree that any and all attempts to lay vocals over these wonderful songs would, in essence, destroy the labor and crafting implemented to create this masterpiece of thought-to-music. I will be pre-ordering this baby later today and implore all of you to check out the band’s MySpace and support the living hell out of these guys, a band that seems to be a working class act with no reservations about calling out past masters accordingly and spreading out creative majesty like thunder.

Release Date: 2010
Label: Translation Loss / Waylon

TRACK LISTING

1.  Headed For An Unmarked Grave
2.  White Summer - Black Winter
3.  Controlled By Lunar Forces
4.  March Of The Druids
5.  Riff Forest
6.  Pagan Eclipse
7.  Four Winds
8.  Mushroom Cloud
9.  Last Spark Of The Sun

Total playing time:  45:06

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*Comments:

Reviewer: Chris

December 24, 2010