### Serpentia: The day in the year of candles

#### 16/02/12 || gk

Serpentia’s 3rd album and they’ve been around since 1996. Metal Archives calls this melodic death metal and I can hear some In Flames here but there’s also some modern groove and when vocalist Ivy tries his hand at clean singing he sounds like a lighter version of Peter Steele and gives the songs a slight gothic touch. The songs are a bit all over the place with riffs that could at one time sound like they came from the Swedish school of melodeath and immediately switch to a mid paced chug that sounds like Pantera and often has a quite melodic section sitting in the song somewhere. It’s not quite metalcore but it’s bit like the band decided to write riffs that sound like whatever is popular at the moment in metal and then stitch them together in a sort of patchwork quilt. There’s no thought given to smooth transitions or trying to combine their influences into a cohesive whole. Overall, “The Day In The Year Of Candles” sounds like a confused mess.

3/10: And replete with confusion.