Snakewine
Serpent Kings

Snakewine could be referring to snake wine, something usually drunk in Asia that is usually rice wine with a snake in it and then preferably a poisonous snake. Sound like a drink these German guys that makes up the quartet of the band Snakewine would be very pleased to be drinking. They seem to have a fascination for the serpents and those things; they called their debut album Serpent King just to illustrate that serpent fascination. I should point out that I don’t really think that they have a very attractive artwork but then again, it isn’t really the artwork that is to sell the album so let’s see if they have some bite in their songs.

Inside this less than great artwork hide some heavy rock music with simple song structures and choruses, it should be easy to take in even though one have to get used to the serpent-like vocals that are being offered on this album. But even though the vocals are serpent-like I think that they lack some bite and character and are nowhere near the serpent in Eden that had both charisma and power of persuasion. I would also describe the music as quite typical and it doesn’t really show much in terms of originality or fresh thinking, one could say that it slithers down the same paths as most heavy rock albums do and that they therefore risk being missed in the never-ending stream of albums that appear in the genre.

The album itself is okay, I would say that it is really good in its best moments. But I also think they could have more bite, more energy, more authority and more power – a good heavy rock album has plenty of these things while these guys don’t quite have that. And their problem is that in the genre they have selected they either need to be very original or absolutely amazing to stand out and unfortunately Snakewine is neither of those things so I fear that most will miss out on what they have to offer. Don’t get me wrong though, there album is still quite good to listen to but it lacks that climax we hear from the best album in the genre, you kind of wait for that climax to come but it never does and it all ends in something of an anti-climax.

The songs are okay all through the album, I don’t really think that any of them stand out in any direction –they all work and Serpent King appears to me as a rather even-tempered album with decent music all the way through. It is rather good without really stirring the pot and I think it is an album that will fast be forgotten when the next heavy rock album finds its way into the music player – it may sound a bit harsh but the reality for bands in this genre is harsh, you need something extraordinary to get noticed in a genre that is extremely overcrowded already and I am sorry to say that I don’t hear anything extraordinary when I listen to this album.

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