Review of The New Serpent Album "As The City Burns".
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Band Name: Serpent
Album Title: As The City Burns
Tracklist:
The Trumpets Have Hailed
And The Goddess Weeps
Until Dawn
Delerium
Cold Chains Of Andromeda
Aegean Sea
Tears Of A Titan
Burning Athens
Running Time: 40:19
Release Date: May 29, 2026
Rating: 9/10
Label: Stormspell Records
Band Members:
Ray De Leon - Lead Guitar
Headbanging Man - Drums
Achilles - Vocals
Pat Quintero - Bass Guitar
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Lead Guitar
Additional Album Info:
Produced, Mixed And Mastered By Fili Bibiano
Drums Recorded At Blacklight Studios
Music By Serpent
Cover Art By Anton At Oldschool Crew
Booklet Design And Layout By Salmoneus
What we have here is the first full length album from Serpent, a metal band calling Los Angeles, California home. I had never heard of them until I saw this first album titled “As The City Burns” go up for order on Stormspell Records’ website. Let’s dive headfirst into the L.A.’s metal underground and see what this band and album is about, eh?
When the album first started, I thought this was one of the many awesome albums that Stormspell Records uncovers, dusts off and makes all pretty before putting it out there for us to shove into our metal-hungry yappers. But no, this is just a great brand-new album from a band very stuck in the grand ole 80’s metal scene. It is very 80’s sounding from the playing, the production, the riffing and the vocals. It kind of reminds me at times of old Anvil, old Omen and even old Stryper and early Mercyful Fate! Kind of thrash, kind of hair metal, kind of U.S. styled power metal with great guitar riffs, solos and leads, a huge bass guitar presence that noodles along in the background and drums that will have your ear drums working overtime if played at the correct volume. Loud. That’s the correct volume it should be played at. Achilles’ vocals really remind me of early Michael Sweet. Say what you want about Stryper, musically they are great and Michael Sweet is a phenomenal vocalist as Achilles is here. Just kind of operatic and always soaring. The lyrics are mostly about Greek mythology and fantasy and are well written. As mentioned earlier, the production on the album is neither raw or too clinical or modern sounding and you’d bet your last dollar this was released in 1985.
The cover art is done in hues of orange, red and black and shows an ancient city in flames. One man, with a pike in hand (Hey, that rhymes!) sits atop a pile of stones looking particularly sad as that city is engulfed in flames. Inside of the eight-page booklet you’ll find all of the lyrics, some band photos and the band and album information.
If you are a fan of 80’s metal, you need to get a copy of this, a Rubik’s Cube as well as an old notebook so you can draw the Serpent logo on it and then you can ride off headbanging into the night giving modern times the middle finger. “As The City Burns” rules. Serpent rules. ‘Nuf said!
As always, I like to ask my readers to support the bands, labels and artists by purchasing the physical copies of the albums you love or by going to their Bandcamp and/or Facebook pages and giving them your support there.
Blasted By Britton Facebook Group.
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