Struck By Lightning: Serpents

From time to time there comes along an album that manages to find a happy medium. Too often are bands described using a shopping list of adjectives that really just covers up that fact that either a band lacks a focus (not always a bad thing) or are just beyond description. Too often are genere's mashed together to create something unique but still fall short of allure ( Folk metal and deathcore). The comes along a band that just gets it. Struck By Lightning does just that.

The debut album from these Ohio crushers, lead by former Mouth of the Architect Axeman Gregory Lahm, takes progressive sludge ala early Mastodon and adds 90s hardcore to conceive a post NeurIsis masterpiece (see what I did with that sentence? Hahahaha!). Serpents came to me shortly after its release. It took me to see them opening for Weedeater to witness their magic. Lahm's departure from MOTA only helped him. The sticker on the wrapper said something along the lines of "the soundtrack to a Blues Brothers style chase scene." Sold. This album has teeth. Heavy and complex. Lots of d-beat style hardcore, some melodic parts, lots of heavy crushing sludge. The complexity of Converge with the power of Tragedy and His Hero is Gone. Struck By Lightning seem to be more focused on writing fast and heavy rather than slow thick. You can't tell whether the hardcore is influencing the sludge or the other way around, but you don't care. You're too busy enjoying the music. This album comes at a time where a lot bands of a similar nature seemed rather lost. These guys have a good ear for what works and what doesn't. 'Becoming Earth', while on the sludgier side of the coin, opens with probably one of the coolest riffs I've heard in years, and displays some great rhythmic parts. They could have easily sped this jam up, but let it soak in the gravy just for a little longer. Having come up with music from the late 90s and the early 00s, this brings a lot to the table that I haven't heard in a while. You can tell why a lot of hardcore kids started listening to Neurosis and all that stuff.