Belgian black metal is on the rise. No longer is it just Enthroned, Possession, and is-it-black-metal-is-it-not Oathbreaker. Alkerdeel and Wolvennest have been making the rounds of the international underground for the past 10 or so years. Emptiness’s Nothing But The Whole is instantly recognisable to anyone who’s ever paid even minor attention to Youtube’s recommended videos section. Wiegedood has become the new Mgla, spotlight-wise. Recent output from new projects Bloedmaan, Rituals Of The Dead Hand, and Spectral Damnation has cemented the country as the up-and-comer to dive into the proverbial esoteric seitan and seize it with all possible appendages. No longer does a Church of Ra association necessitate success, and Serpents Oath’s third full-length, Revelation, attests to that like a slice of butter on a hot summer morning. Smooth, easy. Simple and delicious.

That being said, Serpents Oath’s Revelation is a very middle of the road two chord orthodox (not the religion) black metal album, in the vein of Marduk & co, with a little bit of Nightbringer mixed in. Nonetheless, it’s well composed and even rather catchy. An album doesn’t have to be reinventing the wheel in order to be a goodie. Serpents Oath are sure to point this out in Revelation again and again with tracks we’ve heard – again and again – from some band or other. Yet through clever compositions and tasty hooks, Revelation proves to be a bit of a standout among the countless doppelgangers I’ve come across. The classics are classics for a reason.

Not that Revelation is a classic per se, but it’s a very easy and replayable album that would hopefully get Serpents Oath a little more limelight. At an enviable length of 12 tracks, separated into three parts), Revelation’s finger-tapping and head-bobbing coefficient is insanely high. I’ve sat down adding to this review about 7 times now. I get distracted, the bloody album bloody ends, and I’m sat there for an hour with silent static in my headphones, just trying to decide whether to give it another go. Beginning with a brief heavenly war-esque intro, Revelation waltzes through punch throwing, thundering barrages of melodic war black metal anthems, first culminating with the fourth Purification Through Fire, a sexy number that keeps me na-na-na-ing in my head.

The second part of the album commences with another brief intro, and then Beyond The Void dives back into the swing of things. The arc is finished with the brutal chant-inducing Path Of The Serpent. The third part begins with – you guessed it – an intro, and then Cult Of Death dives back into the heavenly warfare of the previous two parts. There really isn’t anything special or unique about it, but its sheer speed and consistency at adhering to the Marduk-ian composition model (without actually being Marduk), really works for Serpents Oath. The following two are much of the same, with the concluding track, Pandemonium, being uncharacteristically not an outro. Its culmination really kicks in 4 minutes in, and it’s simply beautiful. A mid-tempo grandiosity, which alludes verbatim to the piece’s name, it’s the perfect ending to an intense yet remarkably melodic album. An outro could never!

Then it all ends. If Revelation is the war of Heaven and Hell, I wonder where we are now. Surely, this cannot be Heaven, but it is too dire to be Hell. Perhaps, we’re still there, in the midst of it all. And indeed, if we are, I’m glad I spent some of the time listening to this album – and so should you.

(6/10 The Flâneur)

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https://odiumrecords.bandcamp.com/album/serpents-oath-revelation