Serpent Dweller – Arid Realm Beyond Death

A few years ago, Serpent Dweller put out a couple of promising demos and then disappeared. I then forgot all about them until Arid Realm Beyond Death appeared on YouTube channels. Following an instantaneous purchase, I have listened to this album at least once a day.

Serpent Dweller has manifested a hallucinatory meditation on death presented via Raw Black Metal. Intentional and  bewildering the music serves as a conduit for the highest veneration of life’s greatest mystery – Death. This review will focus on the music and leave the philosophy and mortal ruminations to the band. Through 8 songs in 45 minutes, the two-piece present BM of a familiar strain accented with streams of melancholy and touches of Funeral Doom to create a sound greater than the sum of its parts.

The album begins with a two-part intro. The initial track is an instrumental guitar part that serves to set the sorrowful mood of the album. The Fool, A Waery Traveler follows and introduces psychedelic elements with a sparse and ritualistic song accompanied by whispered vocals, the end of the song takes a turn towards the Raw Black Metal that will be the album’s primary mode.

The next three songs, “Towards the Infinite Moonlight,” “Wandering the Vast Darkness,”and “The Eye of  the Lunar Hellscape,” demonstrate somewhat straightforward yet serpentine and meandering BM. These songs are riff heavy, have killer guitar solos, the drums gallop and stomp, and the vocals are simple yet effective and quite easy to understand. There is a sense of growth, change, and mystery present, and slower parts offer an opportunity for reflection. Particularly, the beginning of “The Eye…” is quite restrained, creating a tension that is relieved by the end of the song and another interlude. This final interlude is primarily feedback/static with some light keys or similar instrumentation. This provides a transition into the final two songs that have a slightly different feel to them.

“The Tower of Light Crumbles” and “Unto Flesshless Hands” close out the album and introduce new riff styles that are victorious and inquisitive as well as elements reminiscent of Funeral Doom. These two songs are my favorite part of the album and are emblematic of why BM is one of the most dynamic and interesting genres of music.

Serpent Dweller has created an album that I will be listening to a lot this year. Arid Realms Beyond Death manages to fulfill multiple musical desires and has only become more interesting the more I listen to it. The album is a presentation of the always prescient topic of death and what lies beyond in a very impactful way. The album can currently be bought via BANDCAMP and will be out on tape this year via VICTOMS OF FATE