Yanking wide the flesh of the eyes ’til the skull can no longer clench shut its sight away from the face of the great conqueror, death Türkiye-based blackened death metal quintet Serpent of Old mirror the nihil of the natural world back into grotesquely deluded spiritus of humanity by way of abstract, calamitous sermon here on their debut full-length album. ‘Ensemble Under the Dark Sun‘ arrives without preamble or introductory showcase as an elaborately stated vision of modern black/death metal carrying a high taste level and plenty of riffs in hand. Leaving a crater wherever its dark revelations are aimed yet providing a familiar admixture of sensations throughout, no doubt these folks haven’t hidden their influences too far out of earshot but the bar is aimed to such a high level of craft there can be no reasonable complaint made of referential technique when the actions herein are far above average.

We don’t know much about Serpent of Old just yet as there’ve been no promotional releases ’til now and no preemptive strikes taken to gauge public reaction, though I would guess that this project came together in Ankara around ~2019 or so when ex-members of ‘old school’ death metal band Abolish (check out their record F.D.A. Records debut) alongside current members of death/thrash metal group Archaic Vanity and black metal project Woeden put together a team of folks from various other regional groups focused on a project which presents a keen mixture of modern atmospheric/avant-garde black metal movements as they might apply to death metal of an abstract yet riff-oriented nature. This level of quality and composition does not come quick and easy to most, so, I would assume this record had possibly been in the works for several years in terms of the guitar compositions.

Most folks will not be surprised that I’ll have some eager praise to throw at this group for the sake of the style they present. In terms of using some manner of readable shorthand to suggest the general shape of the listening experience, ‘Ensembled Under the Dark Sun‘ offers I’d say Serpent of Old feature a sound heavily inspired by more recent recordings from Ulcerate in terms of presenting a full-bodied, technique enriched and blackened abstracted vision of death metal which melds expertly with riffcraft clearly inspired by the thrashing calculations of mid-to-late 2000’s The Chasm and perhaps the blustering occult roar of Grave Miasma about as often. Voluminous in shape, grand in scale, yet grounded by some semblance of death metal tradition this is what I’d consider a viable future sight for real death metal given the free movement of black metal. No doubt those are lofty claims to set on the shoulders of a fairly new band but these guys are neither newborn nor too overtly referential so much as they’ve taken notes from some of the best moments of those artists and created a wholly compelling debut album from the insight gained.

The typical song on ‘Ensemble Under the Dark Sun‘, or, the sort of song that’ll have the most profound impact upon the listener will generally run anywhere from 7-10 minutes in length and this’ll likely make for a daunting first couple of listens as these pieces are not necessarily challenging for their moment-to-moment action but moreso in terms of grasping the greater point of each outsized arc. Opener “The Sin Before the Great Sin” threatens to present the whopping oeuvre of the band up front with a relatively slow build into more involved action, the motion of the song presents itself in undulating waves which build to an aggressive peak beyond ~1:40 minutes in, a few unrepentant minutes compared to most of the album’s meandering thought process which eventually resigns itself to a hypnotic mid-paced riffing. One of my favorite riffs on the record (see: ~2:30 minutes into the song) creates a bit of a precedence where these extended songs should naturally explore some memorable territory within the constant sea-change of the guitar work and the full listen generally delivers upon this.

Of the first three pieces, each over eight minutes long, which kick off the record “Unsaturated Hunger and Esoteric Lust” is arguably the most aggressive in terms of its drumming finding that sweet spot in between the technical grace of Ulcerate-esque guitar work (see also: album closer “Idiosyncrasy“) and the cavernous roar of Grave Miasma‘s more recent releases. It isn’t a perfect comparison but it’d nonetheless struck me from the first listen that Serpent of Old manages to hold up to a certain high standard similar to how Suffering Hour had on their similarly abstract ‘Dwell‘ mLP a few years back and this especially applies as we consider the The Chasm influenced riffs that hit not only ~3:34 minutes into “The Fall” but throughout the most memorable pockets of riffcraft on the album. Beyond that we have the Immolation-esque screeching downturn into “From the Impending Dusk” which soon does a fine job of switching things up to help avoid the full listen stagnating in terms of tone. The running order is front-loaded with bigger pieces, leaving a bit of a lighter burden to consider over on Side B but this generally works in terms of unimpeded flow from start to finish.

With a couple of all-time greats referenced in mind and an excellent cover image courtesy of Santiago Caruso it was easy to consider Serpent of Old‘s debut a complete package, a debut which is well above par. Even without taking stock of the lyrics and theme expressed here it’d been an easy record to sit with and enjoy for its many abstract shapes, dark turns taken and the feeling of immersion generated by the dense trio of pieces which kick off the first half of the album. It took several more listens to crack into the density of the experience and see ‘Ensemble Under the Dark Sun‘ as fresh potential energy, but I’d ultimately walk away from it after each listen feeling sated while also curious as to what the future might hold for this sophisticated yet still malleable sound they’ve forged. A high recommendation.

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