Who knew there were not one but TWO excellent symphonic/blackened deathcore bands right here in my backyard in, Missouri? One is Kansas City’s Vile Revelation, who released their killer debut EP Ov Vultures and Flesh back in 2022 (though I only discovered it earlier this year, hence no review) and Abaddonia, hailing from the darkest depths of St Louis.

Dawn of the Serpent is the band’s (delayed, mostly due to COVID) debut release, and was produced by Shadow of Intent‘s Chris Wiseman, so there is some immediate credibility here. But the band’s delivery of the suddenly saturated blackened /symphonic deathcore is damn solid on its own merit and up there with other like-minded bands like Downfall of Mankind, Hanging the Nihilist, Bonecarver, The Archaic Epidemic, Hurakan, Worm Shepherd and of course, Shadow of Intent (I’m trying really hard not to use Lorna Shore here……lay off).

The 5 excellent songs all deliver plenty of the genre’s tenets; plenty of atmospheric orchestration, lots of big burly breakdowns, impressive dual demonic vocals (are there any bands of this style that don’t have killer vocalists?), and blackened blast beats. The recipe is well and truly followed but also cooked pretty well. From the opener “Horsemen Part 1: War”  through lumbering “Keres”,  and “Mortifer” (featuring Worm Shepherd‘s Devin Duarte) to the impressive, epic, more restrained closer “Dawn of the Serpent”, you get exactly what you want if you, like me, are a fan of the genre.

Listen, I get it, the genre is indeed over-saturated right now, especially since the Lorna Shore glow-up. But while I keep getting big-name bands like When Plagues Collide, Worm Shepherd (who just released a killer single “The Frozen Lake pt 2”, and its fucking devastating), and Mental Cruelty delivering kickass music (and if their new song “Symphony of a Dying Star” is anything to go by, it will be a game changer) and more unheralded bands like this or Unhallowed Void‘s Euthanasia EP (a duo from Scotland no less), I’m still all about it.

[Visit the band's website]

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