Review: Serpents Athirst – Heralding Ceremonial Mass Obliteration

Serpents Athirst is a black metal act from Sri Lanka, where their creative focus is strictly melting your face with blasphemous music and screams of torment. Themes of war, religion and violence reign supreme when it comes to Serpents Athirst and Heralding Ceremonial Mass Obliteration showcases exactly what this band wants to accomplish. This release is their debut EP so we’re getting an official first listen at this bands ominous sound, unless you’ve heard the split and demo that is. Black metal greatness awaits you when you press play.

After a short introductory period, the music swells in and never truly ceases. Heralding Ceremonial Mass Obliteration is a punishing 12 minute piece of work. Kommander Holocaust keeps things quick and grim on the guitar, focusing on a thrash like mentality when it comes to the speed and aggressiveness of the riff. Decimator stays right with him as he provides rich bass and power to these riffs while maintaining these speeds on his own. The combination of the two actually creates a very neat and terrifying sound. Drummer Obliterator, the bands original vocalist, brings forth an amazing display of percussive talent as he carries speeds and rhythmic hatred that would get anybody to start headbanging. While the drumming does focus on speed and blasting for the most part, I do enjoy the simplistic approach as it matches well with the overall “bash your head in with a hammer” tone that Serpents Athirst has. Vocalist Reverend Khaostorm unleashes a raw throaty terror within his screams and sometimes has shows off his ability to have a mid-ranged vocal attack as well. All in all, the band does a fine job at giving us a raw black metal sound that kicked my ass for the entirety of the listen. Heralding Ceremonial Mass Obliteration is a damn fine debut release.

So if you’re looking for a barbaric blasphemous display of heathenish hell then look no further than Serpents Athirst, the steam rolling power this release has will give you an adrenaline rush as well as make your neck sore as you are sure to headbang along with the music.

8 out of 10

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