Serpent Throne's White Summer-Black Winter is a gnarly instrumental album that's more rock and less stoner/doom than usual (although a few church bells do ring out here and there for good measure). So if you're in the mood for some pretty straight-up 70s throwback metal without the trebly caterwauling of the old-timers, scope this out. There are plenty of dynamics from track to track to keep it interesting, even if the album as a whole dully aches for some Greg Lake-ish vocals. The only major drawback in my opinion is that this band suffers from "boring drummer syndrome," which would typically be an instant deal-breaker for an instrumental band like Serpent Throne, if it weren’t for such righteous riffage. All in all, White Summer-Black Winter feels like a classic, something you’d pluck out while rifling through your dad’s old tape cassettes and be left scratching your head, which is unique given that it was released a year ago. I give it three chicken wings and a celery stick, without the ranch. This is a good thing.
Where's the buffalo sauce?
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