Desert Psychlist was mightily impressed with Sea of Snakes first EP "World On Fire" when it landed in 2021 and our admiration for the band doubled with the release of "The Serpent and the Lamb" their 2022 debut full length album. However we have to admit to being totally unprepared for the sheer dark majesty of their latest release "Bow To No One" (Glory or Death Records), we knew these guys were good but we never, up until this landed, knew just how good they could be.
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Sea of Snakes new album opens with "1313" the song a weighty tome in full possession of all the dark crunching refrains and busy thunderous percussion a seasoned doom aficionado could ever hope for. However this is not entirely a doom song, there is an underlying element grunginess going on beneath all that crunching dankness, a slurry element to those refrains that is reminiscent of Alice In Chains at their very darkest. That grunginess also makes its presence felt in the vocals, there is a worldly weariness present in Jason Busiek's delivery that you would be hard pushed to find gracing a good percentage of todays doom albums. Next song "Crack The Whip" ramps up the slurred guitar attack and twins it with Layne Staley/Jerry Cantrell-like vocal dynamics, an impressive mix of lead and harmonised vocals. "Slo-Failiure" finds guitarist Jim McCloskey and bassist Greg Noriega laying down some deeply riveting doomic riffage ably supported by Chris Lowbridge's punchy tight drumming, Busiek switching here to a slightly more grittier vocal approach to compliment the dankness of the grooves surrounding him. There is an element of Faith No More about next song "Kill Hate Love" in both its musical and vocal attack while for "Black Hymn" Sea of Snakes show no shame in getting down dirty and Sabbathian. We are halfway through the album now and not a duff track has raised its head above the parapet, and do not go expecting any either "Below the Water", "Martyr of the Son", "Passenger" ,"Tempest" and final song "Devil Inside You" are all superb examples of how well the genres of grunge/alt-metal and doom/stoner rock can be made to compliment each other if handled with the right care and understanding.
It seems strange that there are some people who will sing the praises of Black Sabbath yet will throw a hissy fit if asked to listen to Alice In Chains despite the fact that both bands share musical similarities. Sea of Snakes however do not care that their version of doom may have an air of grunginess in its make-up in fact they celebrate those elements and want their listeners to notice them, "Bow To No One" is the perfect title for a collection of songs that refuses to apologise for drawing from sources outside of the doom canon, in fact all things against the middle its just a pretty perfect album.
Check it out ....
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