IN THE COMPANY OF SERPENTS

IN THE COMPANY OF SERPENTS     “A Crack In Everything”

By Dr. Abner Mality

This record sounds the way Clint Eastwood looked after Tuco marched him through the desert in “The Good, The Bad & The Ugly”...dry, dirty, gritty, tired, beaten. I haven’t heard such a dusty and grimy record in a long time. At that part of their craft, Denver’s IN THE COMPANY OF SERPENTS succeeds. At creating original and compelling music...that result is decidedly mixed.

This record has a lot more “Western” sound than past ITCOS efforts. Apparently much of it deals with singer/guitarist Grant Netzorg’s difficult battle with alcoholism. You can hear and feel that battle in his voice, which sounds like he massages his larynx with sandpaper and then cools it down with raw whiskey. This isn’t a growling death metal kind of voice, but more akin to the gruff rasps of old bluesmen. It’s the most effective part of the record. As for the music, it’s pretty typical sludge and Southern metal, with touches of the usual suspects such as DOWN and EYEHATEGOD. Quite honestly, it’s nothing new.

The best part of “A Crack In Everything” is the mid-album trio of “Cinders”, “Endless Well” and “Buzzard Logic”. There’s something about these tracks that just seems meaner and yet fresher than the rest. There’s some indescribable lead playing that’s unlike anything I’ve heard before...it sounds like guitar solos being played on rusty bridge cables, with a sort of crusted metallic twang. Really cool stuff! The acoustic tracks like instrumentals “Delirium”, “Tremens” and the draggy LEONARD COHEN influenced ballad “Until Death Darkens Out Door” have emotion, but they just didn’t punch my ticket. That might just be me. I also think the record needed a better closer than the average “Ghosts On the Periphery”.

Obviously a very personal and heartfelt album. But I’m not feeling it. When it comes to this kind of Southern fried sludge, SOUR VEIN and WEEDEATER suit me better.

IN THE COMPANY OF SERPENTS