Raised by Wolves

Serpentcult have had the most chequered of histories, originally starting out as Thee Plague of Gentlemen whose only album "Primula Pestis" I have reviewed elsewhere and then having to change their name and style after their vocalist was indicted on charges of molesting children. The band renamed itself and recruited a female singer who stayed a while and then left. "Raised by Wolves" is the band's second album and the first without a regular singer.

At less than 40 minutes, the album can and should be heard in its entirety in one sitting as the four songs, each lasting some 8 - 11 minutes and all appearing to be linked to one another in a concept. "Raised by Wolves", the only track to feature audible vocals (the last track has vocals as well but these are buried deep in the song), begins quietly but confidently and swells into a strong riff-heavy doom metal piece with a swinging rhythm and the occasional passage of chugging rhythm texture. There are two sets of vocals, one shouty and clean-toned, the other gruff and deep and overshadowed by the other set. It passes through a thunderstorm into "Crippled and Frozen", a track that owes a debt to black metal in its spidery guitar tone but is otherwise a so-so melodic, post-rock track that doesn't capitalise on the immense spaces within to be a great atmospheric BM / post-rock fusion piece. The tunes and riffs are nothing much to shout about either and are merely repetitive. As the song continues, some interesting background noise effects arise but they are too quiet and timid to make much impression on the music.

"Longing for Hyperborea" is a sprawling if repetitive jam, a bit leaden in pace, but with a slight sinister mood. It definitely has a groove and a jazzy feel and there's some atmosphere about halfway through. I think though there is room for improvement: the pace could have been faster and the volume dynamics could have been greater to give the song more of a 3-D feel - the overall effect would have been something more energetic, blasting and tense. A pleasant ambient loop with banging clacks ends the track. Final track "Growth of the soil" is a straightforward melodic doom metal with a slight blues feel - it must be those empty spaces in the song combined with the occastional twanging guitar string that makes it seem that way - and a suspenseful, wary mood. The track becomes compressed and taut about the third minute and all we hear is a rumbling rhythm section and sparkling guitar murmur that erupt into angry riffing and ghostly BM-styled screaming.

This is an enjoyable if not very remarkable album: the music does tend to repeat a lot and while I believe the musicians try hard to include variety and other genre influences into the work, the album still sounds like an average doom metal recording. There is potential within the songs to be something more than they are and if only Serpentcult had pulled out all the stops and really gone for broke on each and every riff here and extended the riffs to ridiculous extremes, this album could have been really jumping.