Damned – The Path of the Serpent
Origin: Chile
Release: 10.02.2023
Label: Evil Confrontation Records
Duration: 46:16
Genre: Heavy Rock / Doom Metal
The Chilean duo convicts has been active since 2005 and has meanwhile made many releases. This includes several demos, EPs and split releases over the years. But most important are the full albums, which were released in 2011 and 2017. Starting from the formation of the band, it took six years to make their debut, which is also the time difference to the second album.
So it doesn’t surprise us that we are six years on for the third time The Path of the Serpent had to wait. Musically devote themselves Fernando Vidal and Matias Moreno in the broadest sense a mixture of Heavy Rock and Doom Metal. I worded it so vaguely because elements of progressive rock and stoner are also clearly visible. The songs are sung in Spanish, which doesn’t make it easy for us to follow the occult content and visions of doom.
The Path of the Serpent
That’s roughly the translation of the album title. The opening Intro is a mixture of abstract and occult sounds. Deep humming mixed with rising and falling plaintive tones, sounds of ritual drums provide a sacred and solemn step. The result is mental cinema for emotional harmony.
Pretty quick rotten soul, the depraved soul, go. The song, which is not even three minutes long, marches in a high mid-tempo and is immediately appealing. What is striking is the very own production, for which both musicians are responsible. The sound sounds rough and original. Nevertheless, the instruments can all be felt very clearly. A really successful production with a lot of care. Only the singing, which is often doubled, is too central and too far in the background for me. But that is certainly a matter of opinion.
convicts rows of cool riffs shake out of the sleeve to open the individual songs. At the beginning of the album, Doom is not the sound, but above all the content. The triple off The devil, convicts and acid riderwhich you HERE can hear passes us by in a surprisingly entertaining manner at a rapid pace of three minutes. A mixture of stomping heavy rock, fast doom and skilful breaks makes the music very entertaining.
The turn to doom
Then the time has come. Sounds doomy and worn My curse from the boxes. Fernando Vidal sings more painfully, time oscillates between the riffs and the drums drum to the ritual. The Chariot and the Tower then breaks hard with the slow predecessor, because a Chilean sandstorm sweeps over us at breakneck speed. convicts flatten everything in three minutes. It is striking that the band does without the long or sprawling guitar solos that are otherwise usual in the genre. While each song contains brief interspersed solo work from the guitar, rhythm and riffs reign supreme.
After a short instrumental it goes along black smoke, the black smoke, into the next round Doom. While most of the song is a building of riffs, intricate rhythm and simple vocal lines, it slows down black smoke at the end and lies heavy and gloomy over our minds.
the hand of fate, The hand of fate, may just be another dark composition. The bass sides boom transparently, the vocal lines might too Ozzy Osbourne be written on your body. A nice break in the middle section brings momentum and energy to the song. The hand of fate strikes hard and Black Sabbath can be proud of you.
Full steam ahead towards the climax
The theme song The Path of the Serpent is then two minutes of brisk mid-tempo and rushes through like a locomotive at full steam. Once once more there are doomy riffs and clever tempo changes graveyard land. But the highlight of the album follows.
Just as many a connoisseur saves the best piece on their lunch plate for last, so do we convicts the piece Lucifer at the end of the album. Meter-high dark riffs, a deep bass and the slightly wistful voice are spiced up with breaks and outbursts of energy. Here the devil is in the detail and makes repeated listening unavoidable.
Even a red wine tastes better with every glass. Lucifer starts briskly and develops into a fast number that even gets the hair on your head boiling. I would like to give you the energy performance that will stay in your ears long following the end HERE give as a finish to enjoy.
Conclusion
convicts play a broad mix of fast Heavy Rock and then once more Doomy numbers. The skilful changes in rhythm and tempo testify to the high level of skill of the musicians, but require repeated listening to grasp them. The Path of the Serpent is an album with many ideas, proper temperament and some reminiscences to the forefathers of Doom.
8 / 10
Line Up
Fernando Vidal – vocals, guitar
Matias Moreno – drums, bass
Tracklist
01. Intro
02. Rotten Soul
03. The Devil
04. Convicts
05. Acid Rider
06. My Curse
07. The Chariot and the Tower
08. In the Temple
09. Black Smoke
10. The Hand of Fate
11. The Path of the Serpent
12. Graveyard Land
13. Lucifer
Links
Facebook Condemned
Convicted Instagram
Also on Soundmagnet.eu
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