Serpents of the Light

Deicide | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 21, 1997)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Roadrunner Records
• ASIN: B000000H4F
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #42,956 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Deicide as we know them: angry, rattling death metal, March 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Serpents of the Light (Audio CD)

This new album isn't as good as the classic Once Upon The Cross, but it's not at all bad either. Some aspects might put people off though: the production (which hasn't changed much) is not extremely powerful, which belies the fury of the music; also there are some riffs and passages which are similar to the other albums, which in a way is not really a bad thing.

Let's just say, if you were expecting something new and fresh from Glen and the boys, you'll be disappointed :) But, anyway what we have here is nevertheless a solid Deicide album. It's on the whole faster than "...Cross" and there ARE some standout tracks (after a few listens) including "Bastard of Christ" and "This is Hell We're In" which have some incredibly catchy death-groove and death-crawl passages respectively, with Glen Benton's guttural growl taking it over the top! Excellent.

Recommended to death metal enthusiasts... there's some great material on here... it just might take a few listens (if that!) to realise it

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars symbolistic death metal at its best, August 7, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Serpents of the Light (Audio CD)

Bringing a different perspective on the events that have supposedly transpired almost two thousand years ago, Benton and his colleagues offer a feast to the soul of those who listen - that is, presuming that the aforementioned soul is not too heavily involved with heaven and thus can not see past the initial so-called blasphemous lyrics that attract the attention of not only death metal fans, but those who are also existentialists, tho by no means the two are mutually exclusive; having said this, I recommend Deicide to those Men (and women) who are capable of seeing past appearances (such as the inverted cross on Benton's face) and truly enjoy the music and sacrifice Benton offers by extending the limits of his vocal cords to provide the utmost experience to his audience with his best performance here in Serpents of the Light where this time he uses subtle symbolism and allergories to enrich his touch- and the rest of you, you can go to church and listen to your gospels! .

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A worthy inclusion in your collection, October 25, 2007

By 

A. Stutheit "Teyad" (Denver, CO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Serpents of the Light (Audio CD)

It was around 1997 that Deicide began to grow very unhappy with their record label (Roadrunner), so they began unabashedly rushing-out albums just to get out of their record contract. As such, when listening to Deicide's next full-length release under Roadrunner, `97's "Serpents of the Light," and the next two after that (2000's "Insineratehymn" and 2001's "In Torment In Hell"), one can't help but get the feeling that the band was "coasting" and sounded a little uninspired.

Regardless, "Serpents of the Light" is still a good album. The guitar work of Brian and Eric Hoffman may not be as technical as it was on, say, 1992's sophomoric "Legion," but the duo is still in fine form here. They unleash a flood of crunching, grinding, smoke-inducing, streamlined chainsaw leads which are so dizzingly fast that the listener is usually unable to discern any individual "riffs." They are also perfectly in sync with each other. Couple this with Steve Asheim's equally-as-fast, impeccable, walloping, metronome-perfect drumming, and frontman Glenn Benton's infamously devilish vocals and blasphemous lyrics, and "Serpents" encompasses all of Deicide's world-renowned musical hallmarks.

And there are a few surprises to be heard here, as well. For one, the Hoffman brothers' solos are a lot more ripping and melodic than you probably ever thought possible. Next, Glenn's vocals, while as guttural as ever, are actually very intelligible most of the time! Lastly, and most notably, this is easily the catchiest album in Deicide's discography to date. These are some of the hookiest and most memorable choruses in the history of death metal (and that's not an understatement!). Of course, you might not actually WANT to remember most of the lyrics (i.e. "Cease to exist/choking the life out of you with my bare hands"), but they'll still get glued to your brain whether you want them to or not. And chances are you'll catch yourself humming them even after they're done playing.

Deicide keep the gas pedal floored throughout the disc's thirty-minute running time; these ten tracks are furious and urgent almost to the point of a heart attack. Highlights include the opening blast of the title track, the classic "Blame it on God" (which is also a staple of the band's live show), the jackhammering blast beats, ascending and descending guitar solo, and catchy vocal patterns in "This Is Hell We're In," the awesome, instantly memorable, and superbly wicked shrieking chorus of "Slave to the Cross,"the slightly slower tempo and especially fat, chunky, chugging riffs that back "Believe the Lie," and the series of ripping solos that crop up throughout the closer, "Father's Baker."

In sum, "SOTL" may not be up to par with the greatness of previous Deicide efforts, there is still a lot to enjoy here, so all fans should definitely want to pick it up. After all, it's Deicide...what else do you need to know?!