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An album that has a raw quality which holds it back greatly.-
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| Serpent Ascending: The Enigma Unsettles |
Death Metal
I, Voidhanger Records
October 4th, 2011
- The Mournful Pilgrimage (Part 1) - 2:20
- Saturnal - 3:57
- The Human Ladders - 3:30
- The Mournful Pilgrimage (Part 2) - 3:58
- The Entwinement - 4:22
- World of Flesh on Bone - 4:04
- Serpent Ascending - 3:05
- The Enigma Unsettled - 3:43
- Endless Initiations - 4:34
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| Review Information |
Release length: 33:34
Review posted on September 29th, 2011
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| | Overall Score: 5.5/10 |
 
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| Discography |
Discography covers all information available up to day of review and is updated if future albums are reviewed. |
| Full-Length(s): |
The Enigma Unsettled (2011)
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| Demo(s): |
Serpent Ascending (2009)
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| Review |
Serpent Ascending is a Death Metal act from Helsinki, Finland that formed around 2008. Since then, the band issued their self-titled demo back in 2009, and there was a good deal of coverage given to the release from fans and press alike. This doesn't really come as a shock since this is apparently a one man operation helmed by Jarno Nurmi, who has been involved in other bands such as Desecrest, Slugathor, and Nowen. I, Voidhanger Records eventually picked up Serpent Ascending to issue the debut offering, The Enigma Unsettled in late 2011. But, does that mean this release won't fall prey to some of the typical issues relating to single member bands?
Sadly, no it doesn't. The Enigma Unsettled sounds like you might expect from a release like this, and not just because it's on a smaller label. The quality of the album is very raw, which isn't necessarily a bad thing when it comes to music, but in this case there are issues in the audio that can't really be overlooked. You can hear skipping at times, like bad editting cuts in some tracks, such as "The Human Ladders" during the solo. The vocals are the loudest element of the recording, and they sound really bad sometimes, allowing the faults in the voice to come through clearly, as well as things like the popping in the mic you commonly hear from words starting with "p" or "f" really coming through loud and clear. The guitars are really distant and clearly have a Death Metal distortion on them, but at the same time they have such a high pitch that some tracks, like "Saturnal," end up being too shrill and will even make you want to turn the volume down a bit. The bass is pretty loud too, which also isn't necessarily a bad thing, and in fact that performance is fine outside the fact that it can greatly dwarf the guitars at times. Had the levels been about the same, they would have worked together nicely to create some heavy, bludgeoning atmospheres to go with the catchy, headbang worthy material Serpent Ascending does put out through the release. The drums seem to be at the proper level, and honestly they sound good. The bass kicks have a nice thud to them, the snares are pretty loud and full, and the cymbols crash nicely and sound fantastic on some of the slower tracks, such as "The Mournful Pilgrimage (Part 2)."
In fact the album starts with "The Mournful Pilgrimage (Part 1)," but it doesn't quite hold up to the second part. The introduction sets a trudging Doom Metal pace to the recording, which does give off a desolate feeling, but the vocals hinder the main problem. While the extremely deep gutturals sound great, they sound like they are being performed right against the microphone with an eerily clear guitar solo for the solo that dominates every single instrument and actually offsets the atmosphere a bit, coming off more like the song was inspired by, and to be like a Nile song, having a bit of a Middle Eastern sound to it that seems to be unintentional. The guitars go into "Saturnal" and sound so much higher in pitch compared to the previous track that it's hard to listen to them at first. But, through the audio flaws, the song is actually really good. The music is really catchy with a dismal atmosphere you can pick up despite the issues, and while the guitars are at that annoying pitch, the bass really sets in the headbanging groove to the material while the guitars really establish the pace and some blistering chords that can come across as a little more intense.
But that's about where the album stop being greatly interesting in a catchy headbanging sense, and starts moving towards atmospheric material that simply is not the most superb. "The Human Ladders" brings in some slow, trudging Doom Metal inspired environments, foundations, and what seems like the Middle Eastern-esque atmospheric quality of "The Mournful Pilgrimage (Part 1)." However with this and "The Mournfal Pilgrimage (Part 2)," you can't help but feel a bit unimpressed. There's nothing too spectaclar about these tracks at all. The material feels overly simplified and thanks to the quality, there's no real crushing sound to the music, which is something these tracks and others like it are clearly trying to create. But luckily this doesn't stick solely to the rest of the album, and this cluster of material seems to be more like an odd extended conceptual interlude thanks to the instrument "The Mournful Pilgrimage (Part 2)" with vocals for "The Human Ladders" since later tracks do pick back up and offer varying degrees of headbang worthiness.
Among these tracks is the band's title track. "Serpent Ascending" makes for a strong Death Metal track with guitars that actually are deeper this time around. The song's faster pace also helps things along, as do the stronger guitar chords being worked into the equation to really pick up the intensity. The vocals here seem different though, going back more to the way they were on "The Mournful Pilgrimage (Part 1)," which is being really loud and as if recorded at an amateur studio instead of a more professional one for the proper levels. The album does end on a strong note with "Endless Initiations" though. This track also has some vocal problems, but this time it's that they are drowned out by the guitars, which sound similar to "Serpent Ascending" but just a bit higher in pitch then the deeper notes being played. Despite that, this song is great. Musically, it has a lot going on. It's catchy, has some strong guitars and rich leads. The song itself does have some commanding moments, and while the slower material of this album didn't really stand out too much to begin with, this song does seem to drop into that sort of pace without going into simpler music and a trudging pace without the heaviness to back it up.
The Enigma Unsettled clearly has a lot of issues in the audio that really should have been addressed regardless of whether they were done intentionally or not. The guitars are often a bit too high pitched, the trudging material here is often not that impressive, the vocal levels and audio quality on them are far from professional, even for a raw recording, and overall the album just doesn't really have a lot of strong Death Metal material to back it up. Sure "Saturnal" and a few of the closing tracks here really hit the listener hard, a few of them even making headbanging mandatory, but the rest just are not all that impressive, or are just flat out boring liek "The Human Ladders" and the two "The Mournfal Pilgrimage" tracks. This album is not bad, it just suffers greatly from a digital recording trying to be raw but coming out very cheap and amateurish. Honestly with the proper levels on the vocals and instruments, as well as a richer, heavier sound, this album would be a strong, enjoyable album. But, with only a few songs really sticking out, Serpent Ascending's debut release, The Enigma Unsettled, is just not that strong a release.
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