The brazilian metal scene is an extremely vast place to be explored with many great bands from all genres within metal, and today I bring you a band that comes from a genre that is little explored within the brazilian scene: Funeral Doom Metal. And to be more specific, we're going with the band Serpent Rise from the city of Santa Maria in the state of Rio Grande do Sul.
Serpent Rise was founded in 1993, and stopped it's activities in 2000 but returned to activity in 2004 and is still around till this day. The band released their debut in 1998, and it will be the focus of our review today.
Gathered By... is by far one of the best Brazilian Metal albums. The album presents a simple and complex sound at the same time: Atmospheric Doom Metal with a touch of Gothic Metal and Death Metal that turns out to be very interesting to listen to.
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| Serpent Rise live |
The work on the guitars done by Luiz Gusthavo and Júlio Wojciechowski is magnificent, heavy and dense guitars that become darker, the slow sounding drums also performed by Júlio and the obscure sound of the keyboards that create a unique atmosphere, perfect for your moments of morbidity.
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| Agnaldo Gomes |
In "...Karma" we see a very nice highlight for the composition, the progressivity here was taken to another level with a guitar making a melodic rhythm, with an extremely important keyboard support.
"Reflex In My Mirror" is a track that describes its own sound: That moment when we look in the mirror and focus solely on reflecting on life. Great music for the gothic style that predominates here.
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| Júlio Wojciechowski |
The vocals done by Agnaldo Gomes is a very interesting point to talk about. The variation of vocal techniques gives the songs the atmosphere they need. And in the first track, "In The Cosmic Sea", much of what is seen in the rest of the album is already shown, more "whispered" vocals that alternate in a matter of a short time to a devastating guttural. We have a good balance in this song in relation to the general sound of the band.
"Mistress Of My Paradise" is that song that starts in a very dark way, with only the guitar, keyboard and vocals, just to generate that "uncomfortable" atmosphere. From the second half of the song it gains that characteristic density, at the same power as we see in the previous tracks.
"Betrayer God" is one of my favorites. With that gloomy keyboard and ripped vocals it could easily make the soundtrack of a Horror/Thriller movie. But it doesn't stop there! In the final minutes it transforms into a perfect Death/Doom with more speed and more double drum kicks. And close to the end of the album we have the songs "Travelling Free..." and "During The Eternity", tracks 6 and 7 respectively. Both tracks demonstrate all the "Doomic" potential of the band, they start very slowly with density and a lot of heavyness in the riffs that even being slow end up arresting the listener in an exceptional way.
RATING: 10!!!
I certainly couldn't give any other rating than that. Overall, the album is a masterpiece, the mix of Atmospheric Doom and Death Metal is great, and the extra Gothic touches just don't go unnoticed. It's a shame that many people don't know this album, even in Brazil, and also the potential that this brazilian band has. If you don't know, it's highly recommended that you listen to this band, you can be sure you won't regret it, this one has the True Metal Zone approval!!!!
SERPENT RISE
GATHERED BY... (1998)
(Atmospheric Death/Doom Metal)
Country: Brazil🇧🇷
Tracks:
01 - In The Cosmic Seas
02 - ...Karma
03 - Mistress Of My Paradise
04 - Reflex In The Mirror
05 - Betrayer God
06 - Travelling Free...
07 - During The Eternity
Members:
Agnaldo Gomes - Vocals
Eder - Keyboards
Júlio Wojciechowski - Guitar and Drums
Luiz Gusthavo - Guitar
Marcelo - Bass and Vocals (Track 4)
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