Serpent Eater – Hyena

December 2013 • Alerta Antifascista

I think the sludgecore movement is slowly becoming one of my favorite things to happen to metal—a basis in dirty, heavy sludge metal, with extra speed and hardcore punk influence. Serpent Eater adds a healthy dose of grind, stoner, and black metal influence thrown in; not unusual, so it seems, but these guys layer in just about every extreme metal style they can think of on Hyena. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but it sure does make for a unique and interesting experience.

For sure it's some of the most intense, heavy, and pounding music in its genre that I've heard—if the band isn't chugging along at a driving pace, it's spazzing out with skittering, chaotic drums and buzzsaw riffs. And boy, are there riffs—probably more riffs than they know what to do with; the songs are chock-full of interesting things for the band to do and they switch up rhythms and feel quite a bit, so things stay pretty fresh and there's a lot to hear just over the course of a single song.

And, of course, with so much going on that does leave the songs a bit difficult to follow sometimes, leaving the individual songs a bit less memorable than those of similar bands (unless that just means I haven't listened to this album enough yet, which is possible). But bits and pieces that manage to stick out make up for that, like one of "Last Cold World"'s ending riffs which has a great rhythmic pattern you just want to fist-pump along to.

I don't think these guys are going to make any top-sludgecore-albums lists I make in the near future, but Hyena is definitely worth listening to once you're worn out your Struck by Lightning records. Hopefully they keep it up, and maybe with a little bit more focus and honed songwriting we'll see something truly great from them in the future.