Serpent Icon is a brand spanking new melodic death metal project (they aren’t even on metal-archives yet), formed by Tobias Dahs (King’s Winter, ex Living Abyss), but he’s joined by some notable guys in the scene: vocalist Christian Müller (Night In Gales) and drummer Hartmut Stoof (Gloryful, Symbiontic).

And this is one of those rare promotional emails I get that nails the FFO part; for Fans of Dark Tranquillity, At The Gates, Dimension Zero, In Flames, and duh…. Night In Gales; so it’s well done, high octane shredding Gothenburg styled melodic death metal.

The quick, 5-song affair blazes by with heavy-handed Slaughter of the Soul-like gusto, including Müller’s Tompa-like (RIP) raspy howl, melded with dual In Flames-like harmonies and grooves. It’s very well produced, and the trio has the influence nailed. In fact, I’d put this up there with some of the better At The Gates styled stuff like Light This City, Darkness Everywhere, Nail Within, and of course, with Müller’s presence, Night In Gales.

There are some slower riffs like opener “Circus of Mankind”,  and very Whoracle/Colony-esque “Final Witness”, some faster riffs (“Ashes”, “Sirens and Sinners”), all of it thick with Dahs’ top-notch riffs and plenty of solos. There’s even some very subtle, hard-to-hear female vocals buried in “Sirens and Sinners”, which I’d like to hear a little more of for future releases, to make this just a little more than a pure ATG ode, which is still fine.

[Visit the band's website]

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