Struck By Lightning is the new project of former Mouth of the Architect frontman/keyboardist Gregory Lahm, but those expecting an ambient, massive wall of post rock will be sorely disappointed.

Instead, Lahm’s new iteration is a more traditional, dissonant, caustic form of angular hard core based metal rooted in the likes of Coalesce, Botch, Cable and to some extent the lurching modernized sound of Mastodon (notably the drumming of Travis Kline) or Kylesa with some d-beat thrown in. It’s not quite mathcore or Black Market Activities styled noise, but a steady, jagged take on metal that’s well developed and energetically forceful yet eloquent. It’s all thrown into on competent, noisy and at times, experimental blender but to be truthful, it’s not particularly enthralling not does it separate itself from the pack of other modern like minded noisemongers.

The Chris Common (These Arms are Snakes, Mouth of the Architect) production is sturdy but clean and the vocals of Lahm are the expected angst filled shouts and screams and overall the entire group is talented, tight and vitriolic without being too scattershot or overly discordant and grating. However, the fact is, none of the songs truly gripped me or made me take notice. There’s some shimmery guitar work on closer “The Herd” that’s nice, “The Watchful Eye” has a solid climax and the main riff of “Nothing Sacred” has a nice d-beat, rumbling rock riff, but as with most of the material, the riff is never developed for the songs entirety, instead breaking off into other stuttering, choppy moments. “Widowmaker” and “Tightening the Noose” could be construed as an album highlights while “Becoming the Earth” and interlude “Collection of Teeth” are the albums only nods to Lahm’s more serene days.

Still, while hardly a eye opening release, Serpents is a worthwhile release and it all comes with Translation Loss’ expected excellent artwork and packaging, but I was hoping for a little more for a new Gregory Lahm project.

[Visit the band's website]

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