After Unearthly Dance split up, some of the members decided to form a new band, Serpentine Path. Soon after they recorded and released a self-called EP and a self-called full length (yet both with different tracks, despite the very same title). Shortly after they recruited a second guitar player (Stephen of legendary Winter), and the band, now a five-piece, recorded the sophomore full length, Emanations, which has duration of forty five minutes.
Of course the elementary details of Unearthly Trance (and the likes of Ramesses amongst others, evidently) are part of this band’s constructions, but Serpentine Path do not sound like just a continuation of. Of course there are specific elements that betray the members’ roots for this stuff is at least as heavy and unorthodox. But Serpentine Path are less eccentric and more ‘conventional’ in their Drone / Sludge / Doom-approach - if ‘conventional’ might be a part of this scene, of course… In comparison to Ramesses or Unearthly Trance, Serpentine Path is rather the slightly blackened and, for sure, Old Skool-laden Abscess / Autopsy / Asphyx / Incantation-answer to the Sludge scene, and in comparison to the first full length, this one is much more Death-oriented, and less psychedelic-doomish - i.e. the likes of earlier Sleep, Electric Wizard or Yob are of lesser importance on this album. You need to classify this stuff rather as ‘Death Metal’ than ‘Sludge’, despite the members’ former efforts, but both scenes are equally presented, and this album will appeal to amateurs of both genres for sure. Besides, the superb song writing, the excellent performance, and the great sound (somewhat dense yet extremely heavy, and that does fit exactly…), make this album not just a possibility, yet a necessity!
Ever heard anything like ‘Metal of Death from the most sludgy kind’? I did not either, but here it is: Serpentine Path’s Emanations!