{"id":766017,"date":"2026-06-28T16:06:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T16:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/766017\/"},"modified":"2026-06-28T16:06:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T16:06:10","slug":"serpent-lord-the-once-forgotten-ways-of-old-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/766017\/","title":{"rendered":"Serpent Lord – The Once Forgotten Ways of Old Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"After reviewing Crotaline<\/a> in April and Dimmu Borgir\u2019s Grand Serpent Rising <\/a>earlier this month, 2026 is shaping up as the Year of the Snake\u2014at least for me. Now at the end of May, Battleground, Washington\u2019s Serpent Lord emerges from a protracted brumation to deliver a dose of venom fermenting for over twenty years. After recording a split and two demos between 2003 and 2004, one-man band Jake Superchi (Uada<\/a>, Ceremonial Castings) shelved the project for a couple decades. Now Superchi has resurrected his defunct sobriquet to record The Once Forgotten Ways of Old, Serpent Lord\u2019s long-gestating debut LP. After an extended incubation period, does Serpent Lord rejuvenate the Ways of Old, or should the act have remained Forgotten?<\/p>\n

Like Uada<\/a>, Serpent Lord falls under the broader umbrella of black metal. Rather than expansive meloblack, though, Serpent Lord basks in the light of pagan gods, eliciting forlorn calls to umbral deities scoured from memory by the winds of time. Rhythmic grooves and hypnotic guitar refrains lay the foundation for The Once Forgotten Ways of Old, imbuing the album with enough ritualistic zest that you may catch faint whiffs of incense and petrichor while listening. Three of the album\u2019s six songs push past the eight-minute mark, and it\u2019s these moments where Serpent Lord best embodies heathen incantations. In particular, \u201cAries Ram\u201d and the title track conjure visions of enigmatic and arcane rites, evoking mystical practices that lurch and brood in the dark.<\/p>\n

\ufeffThe Once Forgotten Ways of Old by SERPENT LORD<\/a><\/p>\n

On The Once Forgotten Ways of Old, Serpent Lord summons inspirations and reshapes them into a well-developed and distinct character. Most immediately, Serpent Lord reminds me of Rauhn\u00e5cht<\/a> without the folk instrumentation, particularly when the slower, plaintive guitar leads slither above swirling riffs and unyielding drums (\u201cA Pagan\u2019s Spell,\u201d \u201cEnter Serpentagram\u201d). Superchi\u2019s vocals cover an array of deliveries, ranging from frenetic, blackened barking and rasping (\u201cConstrictor\u201d) to droning harangue, where the latter strikes similarities to Mayhem<\/a>\u2019s Attila Csihar\u2019s cleaner stylings (\u201cThe Once Forgotten Ways of Old\u201d). The sermonizing works well, but the harsher vocals occasionally blur with the cascading guitars in the mix, obscuring Superchi\u2019s voice and packing too much sound into too narrow a band. The harsh deliveries work better when there\u2019s room to breathe, like the back half of \u201cForever on the Grounds of Battle\u201d (which features guitar work recalling Alice in Chains<\/a>\u2019 \u201cWhale & Wasp\u201d midway through). Regardless, the star performances belong to the guitars and drums, which pack a potent, two-pronged punch as they wend and weave through The Once Forgotten Ways of Old.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For all that Serpent Lord achieves, The Once Forgotten Ways of Old proves a slippery and elusive beast. Despite the many things done well, I struggle to remember most of it once the music fades from my speakers, and the snippets that stick drive me back to the inspirations more than the Ways of Old. Serpent Lord nails the aesthetic of pagan black metal, and The Once Forgotten Ways of Old is a record I feel like should resonate more than it does. What ultimately undercuts Serpent Lord\u2019s success is the lack of fulfilling climaxes. Superchi does a fabulous job of orchestrating tension through the give and take of guitars and drums, yet few moments capitalize on that buildup. This songwriting oversight is most telling at the ends of tracks, as four of the album\u2019s six songs close with a fade. Concluding a song this way isn\u2019t one of my pet peeves, and I typically don\u2019t notice them, but their abundance here stands out and suggests the opportunity to finish with a bang every now and again.<\/p>\n

The Once Forgotten Ways of Old convinces me that Serpent Lord seethes with potential, but will need to shed its current approach to actualize it. I spent a lot of time traversing The Once Forgotten Ways of Old, and while I enjoyed them, I recognize the album doesn\u2019t offer enough for me to return once the proverbial ink dries on this review. Even so, a few minor tweaks would rid this danger noodle of musical impotence, and I look forward to listening to Serpent Lord\u2019s next worship service if and when it comes.<\/p>\n

Rating: Mixed
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Eisenwald Records<\/a>
Website: Bandcamp<\/a>
Releases Worldwide: May 29th, 2026<\/p>\n

\n\tGive in to Your Anger:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After reviewing Crotaline in April and Dimmu Borgir\u2019s Grand Serpent Rising earlier this month, 2026 is shaping up…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":766018,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[20172,10968,126504,10613,64,63,26922,288774,327657,364932,364933,134,364934,312902,90865,136,364935,364936,228,229,364937,364938,364939],"class_list":["post-766017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-2-5","tag-10968","tag-alice-in-chains","tag-american-metal","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-black-metal","tag-crotaline","tag-dimmu-borgir","tag-eisenwald","tag-eisenwald-records","tag-entertainment","tag-grand-serpent-rising","tag-may26","tag-mayhem","tag-music","tag-pagan-black-metal","tag-rauhnacht","tag-review","tag-reviews","tag-serpent-lord","tag-the-once-forgotten-ways-of-old","tag-uada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=766017"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766017\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/766018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=766017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=766017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=766017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}