{"id":569908,"date":"2026-04-07T14:23:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T14:23:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/569908\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T14:23:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T14:23:16","slug":"crotaline-the-embrace-of-cloacal-desire-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/569908\/","title":{"rendered":"Crotaline – The Embrace of Cloacal Desire Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"When it comes to snakes and music, I\u2019m a simple man. I think of Testament\u2019s Brotherhood of the Snake<\/a>, High on Fire\u2019s Snakes for the Divine, Deicide\u2019s Serpents of the Light, and Sir Mix-a-Lot. And now Philadelphia\u2019s Crotaline slithers in flaunting first-wave-of-black-metal ballads rife with references to snake genitalia. Black metal\u2019s second wave garners most of the attention, having shaped what most consider to be the genre\u2019s trve north, but Mayhem<\/a>, Darkthrone<\/a>, Immortal<\/a>, and Emperor<\/a> never would have become what they are without Bathory\u2019s lo-fi virulence, Venom\u2019s proto-thrashed, punk-informed edgelording, and Celtic Frost\u2019s sinister atmospheres and doomy trudges. First-wave black metal fairly characterizes what Crotaline provides on debut The Embrace of Cloacal Desire, as it\u2019s ridden with direct, unadorned riffing, torturous plods, and a classically DIY aesthetic. Crotaline\u2019s debut sounds like a blast, and I hope it is\u2014my anaconda don\u2019t want none unless it\u2019s got fun, hun.<\/p>\n

In many senses, The Embrace of Cloacal Desire is a primitive album. Crotaline relates carnal tales of ophidian lust in straightforward spurts of stripped-down metal, preferring uncomplicated riffs and instrumentation to deliver their herpetological gospel. In this way, Crotaline reminds me more of Hellhammer than Bathory or Celtic Frost. Tom G. Warrior\u2019s (Triptykon<\/a>) first project, Hellhammer distinguished itself more for its chaos and enthusiasm than its execution. Similarly, The Embrace of Cloacal Desire attacks with zealous verve, flitting through nine tracks of intermittently thrashy and doom-laden black metal. Despite the bold mashup of genres, though, Crotaline never quite brings their fangs within striking distance.<\/p>\n

\ufeffThe Embrace of Cloacal Desire by Crotaline<\/a><\/p>\n

Two primary issues plague The Embrace of Cloacal Desire, and each boils down to the same root cause\u2014simplicity. While the drums supply a commendable rhythmic thunder, mostly Crotaline\u2019s performance either plays too safe or lacks the technical firepower to achieve big moments. After a protracted minute-and-a-half intro, opener \u201cBreeding the End\u201d gets properly started. Unleashing a classic thrash riff recalling Bonded by Blood-era Exodus<\/a>, a peppy bass groove joins in to underpin the melody. The pace slows at the chorus, cutting to a second riff before wending back to the main one. \u201cWidow\u2019s Web\u201d kicks in next, treating listeners to a Venom-meets-Bathory hook that, just like the preceding song, tamps the brakes for vocals and a bridge. The pattern wears thin quickly, and The Embrace of Cloacal Desire suffers from this constricted songwriting\u2014particularly in the back half. Too many half-formed ideas reach for big moments, only to topple into funereal crawls. For an album dedicated to dangerous snakes and sex organs, too often I\u2019m left unthrilled and unfulfilled.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the lack of memorable passages and songs leaves The Embrace of Cloacal Desire as drab and listless as a shed snakeskin. Solid building blocks reside in Crotaline\u2019s DNA, but the shapes of their assembled structures never coalesce into more than their constituent components. Where varying tempos can effectively lead to dynamic pacing and musical climaxes, Crotaline\u2019s overuse of the fast-to-slow momentum shifts undercuts their songwriting. \u201cAs the Serpents Feast\u201d exits the chorus and launches into a punky bridge begging for a wailing solo, but instead delivers an understated, unconvincing lead lacking excitement and dexterity. \u201cRed Moon of Despair\u201d starts promisingly enough, yet drops to a two-minute slog of glacial pacing. The same framework repeats on \u201cBeneath the Reeds,\u201d and yet again on \u201cHemipenes; The Embrace of Cloacal Desire.\u201d Rather than mirroring a narrative or cleverly subverting expectations, these pivots can seem haphazard or lazy, leading to either frustration or boredom.<\/p>\n

In spite of a great album concept and comparisons to bands I enjoy, Crotaline\u2019s debut fails to charm my snake. Predictable songwriting and uninspired performances make The Embrace of Cloacal Desire\u2019s thirty-five minutes feel longer than they are, and no song manages to entirely sidestep these issues. Even so, it takes guts to write this wild shit, and even more so to memorialize these ideas in song. Venom lurks within Crotaline, but the band needs to retool their bite. Hopefully they can figure it out and give us a rousing sophomore resurgence. Until then, I\u2019m left to wonder if maybe I\u2019m bored with it, or maybe it\u2019s Crotaline.<\/p>\n

Rating: Bad
DR: N\/A | Format Reviewed: WAV
Label: Liminal Dread Productions<\/a>
Websites: Bandcamp<\/a> | Facebook<\/a>
Releases Worldwide: April 3rd, 2026<\/p>\n

\n\tGive in to Your Anger:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When it comes to snakes and music, I\u2019m a simple man. I think of Testament\u2019s Brotherhood of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":569909,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[105048,54639,9673,248509,87045,9676,155581,251395,59367,95781,28619,88,251396,20794,240263,152287,15619,216,899,900,251397,67419,251398,251399,73785],"class_list":{"0":"post-569908","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-1-5","9":"tag-54639","10":"tag-american-metal","11":"tag-apr26","12":"tag-bathory","13":"tag-black-metal","14":"tag-celtic-frost","15":"tag-crotaline","16":"tag-darkthrone","17":"tag-deicide","18":"tag-emperor","19":"tag-entertainment","20":"tag-hellhammer","21":"tag-high-on-fire","22":"tag-immortal","23":"tag-liminal-dread-productions","24":"tag-mayhem","25":"tag-music","26":"tag-review","27":"tag-reviews","28":"tag-sir-mix-a-lot","29":"tag-testament","30":"tag-the-embrace-of-cloacal-desire","31":"tag-triptykon","32":"tag-venom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=569908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/569909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=569908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=569908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=569908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}