You’d be hard pressed to find one-man project as effective and soul destroying as Jarno Nurmi’s Serpent Ascending who has also had his hands in other acts such as Slugathor, Desecresy and Nowen. With countless bands having the Serpent prefix you have really got to find some way of standing out amongst the debris that often floats about in death metal. It is clear the focus is centred around death metal, with the crux of the songs offering unrelenting inhumanity but distilled into the four epic compositions he has crafted is a raft of other stylings, some are obvious, others not so much but the end result is a fine listen from start to finish. This release has some stark contrasts to the debut, particularly the song durations with the debut having short to the point tracks of stripped to the bone death metal opposing the much longer constructions on this sophomore.

If you’re a fan of I, Voidhanger bands then you may know this Finnish project already, but what this label seems to always do is hook into bands that are that little bit different and this act fits within that formula with ease. ‘Growth Of The Soil’ has an expected build-up styling on its opening, sequentially escalating the tension and terror ready for the main body of the track to burst forth, which it does, sort of. Everything about the opener is epic, its atmosphere drips with eeriness and menace as the prolonged build-up surrenders to a cleaner vocal style and what I would deem as a Gothic tint on its tonal quality. However, this is death metal but as I have mentioned it is ingrained with other styles such as some dark heavy metal riffing producing some dramatic toning to the opener.

The title track follows and is slightly shorter than the 10 minutes plus opener, filled to capacity with ideas and riffs but always centred around the death metal genre. In places the song has dark metal qualities and an enshrouding density I particularly liked. The blackened touches rear up forcibly here, offering that acerbic causticity the genre requires but blending it seamlessly. With transitions running amok in the song, you wonder which way the song is going to go next making the track chaotic but highly controlled.

‘Stállus Hideout’ is the third composition here with a dramatic fade-in and much gentler pacing, you could even say plodding, but in a good way, a transfixing metronomic sonic hallucination as the song’s sombre aura and oft despairing dolefulness is hugely emphasised. I did find the cleaner vocal style a little strained here, but that may be intentional in the way the song weaves around your head with its interlocking hooks and riffs, but is a minor point in the scheme of what this album delivers.

Closing track is ‘Skadi’s Longing For The Mountains’ and is, I assume, a track about the goddess of the wilderness from Norse mythology and I won’t say any more than that in case I get things wrong. The closer has a doom-death personality initially, the pacing suggests that as the song twists in its icy atmosphere to reveal a track laden with that epic ethos Jarno has cleverly wrought from the instruments. With a bereft toning too, the song reminded me of very early Katatonia, and I really mean early here, as the song switches smoothly into some more Gothic like texture, well at least it sounds like that to me. The way the song is enveloped in darkness is sure to capture fans of dark metal but also those who like a more atmospheric death metal style as this second release by Jarno Nurmi is well worth investigating.

(8/10 Martin Harris)

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https://i-voidhangerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/hyperborean-folklore