Serpent Column "Kathodos" Review

 

I don't have a witty tag line for this one, sorry...

    Mostly because I feel like wit is lost on this record, and going about describing it in broad terms is reductive to its immensity. Serpent Column, the one-man behemoth of black metal, surfaced several years ago with the release of Ornuthi Thalassa, followed thereafter by the critically acclaimed Mirror in Darkness in 2019. I've been personally following Serpent Column since immediately prior to Mirror and have enjoyed the rapid progression he has put to record; following that album immediately with Endless Detainment in early 2020. To that end, we arrive at what Serpent Column has described as the "end of a cycle" in his interview with Terminus, the release in question: Kathodos. The album title here meaning "descent", Kathodos truly does feel like an album meant to delve deep, whether it be toward some conclusion of musical or philosophic thinking, and rise again out of that hole.

    Serpent Column's style, at this point, can be best described, somewhat derivatively, as a left turn from Paracletus/Drought-era Deathspell Omega, drawing heavily on melancholic-tinged riffs and chords that comprise a larger, aggressively dissonant structure. Often times, I feel as if Serpent Column takes this stylistic approach into territory their precedent never would have. By this I mean that he isn't afraid to inject stylings of classic rock, heavy metal, drone, noise, and mathcore where applicable. Not that DSO have ever shied away from mixing and matching, but the extremities here are further removed from the overarching black metal style. Some good examples of Serpent Column's versatility in this regard come from Mirror in Darkness, with tracks like "Apophenia" or the intro to "Ausweg", and Endless Detainment, the title track being a standout. It feels like there is no path that he is unwilling to tread in the effort of getting his point across.

    With that in mind, Kathodos is really no different. In fact, I'd call it a logical conclusion of such sentiment, and even a response to the reception of Endless Detainment as an album leaning too heavily on the overtly dissonant side of things. Kathodos sets out to finish the groundwork laid down by Mirror in Darkness, and presents a musical flow that hitherto divides the album in two, as I see it. Beginning with "Departure of Splinters" and "Kathodos", the album wastes no time in re-familiarizing us with the sonic landscape of Serpent Column. These are two tracks that, while not as wild and attention-grabbing as their prior counterparts, present an interesting jumping-off point. The first sounds of the album, while not in direct alignment, feel as if they spring immediately to life from the fade out of "Each and Every Temple", the final track of Endless Detainment. While I'm not sure if it was intended to be a continuation of that song, the effect of the at-a-moment's-notice commencement of "Departure of Splinters" is a great method of kicking off the interim ambiance that ensues before the true beginning of the song. From here we get a taste of the arpeggiated theme that forms the early framework that makes up the song. Much of Kathodos does step off the gas when compared to its predecessor, going to great lengths to let its riffs and rhythms sit in the listener's ears and not disorient them too drastically. This will all change soon, but for now the riffs are masterful and the drums move everything at a breakneck pace. The title track feels a lot more straighforward as a black metal track, and maintains an air of triumphant melancholy, a pervasive pyrrhic feeling, throughout. It continues on the arpeggiating motifs of the first track, elaborating them as the glue that holds together fast guitar lines that keep the energy at a maximum. These first two songs feel like themes to ancient battles waged on muddy heaths; ebbs and flows of energy, small victories and massive defeats interspersed.

    Consequently, we arrive at perhaps the most devastating one-two-punch combo put to record this year: the tracks "Night of Absence" and "Dereliction". Thru the former's ambient cease-fire and subsequent demolition and the latter's devastating aggression, these two tracks mark a turning point in Kathodos. These tracks feel like a car accident. If the first two tracks are careful, methodic travel, then "Night of Absence" is the sudden brake application and adrenaline-fueled eternity before the crash. Demarcated by impossibly fast blast beats, this crash gives way to a brief respite before, behind us, "Dereliction" rams into our rear end and begins a forty car pile up that lasts the length of the track, ending in a raging fire in the rear view. Then, from all the suddenness, stabs of drums and guitar chords mark the point where we realize we can't move our legs: our spine is shattered, and we watch in helpless anxiety as the fire behind us rages. "Dereliction" is an exercise in human patience, in endurance of what is effectively an aural panic attack. I haven't, in several listens, gotten thru its ending without eventually getting cold chills out of sheer discomfort. The magnitude of the combo of these two tracks can only be offset by the declension of their aptly named successors, "Anodos" and "Seinsverlassenheit", "ascension" and, in the teaching of Heidegger, "abandonment of being". These two tracks I see as the end of the first half of the album, and an effective reset of the thematic undertones. They are short snippets of riffs and pieces of clean guitar put together that feel like a clearing of consciousness.

    In the second half, things become more static, with two couplets: "Splinters of Departure"/"Wind and Fog" and "Pathlessness"/"Offering of Tongues". All of these songs exhibit a more relaxed take on a lot of themes established in the first songs of the album. A lot of what I said about them can be said here too, tho I find this half to be much more concise and focused. "Wind and Fog", for example, is almost entirely one riff. "Pathlessness" acts as a build up to the penultimate track, and ends with a brief (single bar) pause before "Offering of Tongues" bursts from the tension. While I find the execution of all this to be superb, I do find that I enjoy the twists and turns of the first half to be a bit more exciting. I think the thematic structure of the album benefits from how this second half plays out. It feels like a literal descent into the hellscape of the mid-section then an ascent back into somewhat calmer territory. Perhaps, though I have no inkling of the lyrics, there is a resolution in "Offering" that makes the de facto three-song build up to it pay off. Musically, tho, that pay off comes off rather subtly, and I only really took notice of it on repeat listens. What "Offering" gives way to is the final track, "Desertification", a slow 9-minute plod thru a repeated acoustic chord progression. A denouement if ever I've heard one. If the prior track is the resolution, the final one is the ellipsis and question mark, the smoking shell of a last fired bullet falling into soil. As it rests there, we are left to ponder what we heard, and how it affects us.

    To sum up my feelings, Kathodos is definitely my favorite part of this cycle of Serpent Column's career. While I have been overtly fond of his previous offerings, I think here he finds his real stride. If these three albums are meant to be a statement, then Kathodos feels like a resolving clause. Where Mirror and Detainment left me with baited breath, this album feels like a proper ending. As a standout piece amongst many modern black metal juggernauts, Kathodos, along with all of Serpent Column's albums, is a sure fire contender for most immediate and poignant.

You can listen to Kathodos at Serpent Column's bandcamp or thru Mystiskaos:

-Dalton