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Deicide - Serpents of the Light Audio CD

A fair review of the Deicide "Serpents of the Light" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Deicide reviews here, or go back to the Deicide tabs.

Deicide Band: Deicide
Title: Serpents of the Light
Rating:
Release Date: 1997-10-21
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Serpents of the Light 2: Bastard of Christ 3: Blame It on God 4: This Is Hell We're In 5: I Am No One 6: Slave to the Cross 7: Creatures of Habit 8: Believe the Lie 9: Truth Above 10: Father Baker's

Deicide - Brutal, heavy as hell death metal.
The entire album is rattling with metal hook awesomeness and the cover art is what you will only see on a Deicide album. This is my favorite Deicide album, totally hooked on Servents Of The Light. . . \m/.


Brutal and very extreme!
Deicide delivers what I would call the most brutal album of any releases they have made. In keeping with the same theme as every album by Deicide with the anti God ,anti religion rheteric Glen Benton seems to be focused entirely on. Tracks on this cd pull no bones about his anti Christian ideas. You can see the hate and resentment he has towards God in every song. I have just about every other cd by Deicide and it is there but this one is more clear to the listener. Take away the anti-Christian hooray and you have on this cd and every other Deicide release really good death metal. For new Deicide listeners this is not the cd to start with if extreme harsh anti religious lyrics makes you wince. I believe in God and Christ very much and this doesn't change my mind in any way. I simply take this for what is entertainment not any worse than a horror movie about satanic things. Good for any death metal or extreme metal collection.


A worthy inclusion in your collection
As such, when listening to Deicide's next full-length release under Roadrunner, `97's "Serpents of the Light," and the next two after that (2000's "Insineratehymn" and 2001's "In Torment In Hell"), one can't help but get the feeling that the band was "coasting" and sounded a little uninspired. It was around 1997 that Deicide began to grow very unhappy with their record label (Roadrunner), so they began unabashedly rushing-out albums just to get out of their record contract.

Regardless, "Serpents of the Light" is still a good album. The guitar work of Brian and Eric Hoffman may not be as technical as it was on, say, 1992's sophomoric "Legion," but the duo is still in fine form here. They unleash a flood of crunching, grinding, smoke-inducing, streamlined chainsaw leads which are so dizzingly fast that the listener is usually unable to discern any individual "riffs. " They are also perfectly in sync with each other. Couple this with Steve Asheim's equally-as-fast, impeccable, walloping, metronome-perfect drumming, and frontman Glenn Benton's infamously devilish vocals and blasphemous lyrics, and "Serpents" encompasses all of Deicide's world-renowned musical hallmarks.

And there are a few surprises to be heard here, as well. For one, the Hoffman brothers' solos are a lot more ripping and melodic than you probably ever thought possible. Next, Glenn's vocals, while as guttural as ever, are actually very intelligible most of the time! Lastly, and most notably, this is easily the catchiest album in Deicide's discography to date. These are some of the hookiest and most memorable choruses in the history of death metal (and that's not an understatement!). Of course, you might not actually WANT to remember most of the lyrics (i. e. "Cease to exist/choking the life out of you with my bare hands"), but they'll still get glued to your brain whether you want them to or not. And chances are you'll catch yourself humming them even after they're done playing.

Deicide keep the gas pedal floored throughout the disc's thirty-minute running time; these ten tracks are furious and urgent almost to the point of a heart attack. Highlights include the opening blast of the title track, the classic "Blame it on God" (which is also a staple of the band's live show), the jackhammering blast beats, ascending and descending guitar solo, and catchy vocal patterns in "This Is Hell We're In," the awesome, instantly memorable, and superbly wicked shrieking chorus of "Slave to the Cross,"the slightly slower tempo and especially fat, chunky, chugging riffs that back "Believe the Lie," and the series of ripping solos that crop up throughout the closer, "Father's Baker. "

In sum, "SOTL" may not be up to par with the greatness of previous Deicide efforts, there is still a lot to enjoy here, so all fans should definitely want to pick it up. After all, it's Deicide. . . what else do you need to know?!.


3 1/2 Some good Stuff, but some bad filler
Its still pretty fast and furious, as always, but still seems to have some "filler" that just plain sucks. The one thing you might notice about "Serpents of the Light" is that Glen's vocal seems to be acutally audible, which makes for a change of pace. The tracks that really stand out are Bastard of Christ, Slave to the Cross, Creatures of Habit, and the title track. The rest, well just seems like noise, with sloppy playing. Its not a bad album, its just not anything that really stands out and grabs you. At least its better then "In Torment in Hell"!.


My Favorite Deicide CD
Okay Now Alot Of Deicde Fans Will Smite Me Saying Legion & deicde > all, and yeah there probably right, but i enjoy this cd the most, mostly because it isnt Saying how Satan Is God Everytime That They turn Around, and lyrically they are most creative here, it's also there only older relase that can link up to there new ones, so if you liked stench id get this.


You can see a complete list of all Deicide discography, or go back to the Deicide tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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