Band:	In The Company Of Serpents
Album:	Lux
Style:	Doom metal, Sludge metal, Stoner metal
Release date:	May 2020

01. The Fool's Journey
02. Scales Of Maat [feat. Ben Hutcherson & Ethan Lee McCarthy]
03. Daybreak [feat. Paul Primus]
04. The Chasm At The Mouth Of The All
05. Lightchild
06. Archonic Manipulations
07. Nightfall [feat. Paul Primus]
08. Prima Materia

Since Staff Picking their Of The Flock album in 2013, I had carelessly let In The Company Of Serpents fall off my radar, neglecting their evolution from there and foolishly failing to be on active lookout for their subsequent releases. Seven years later, Lux is smacking me right in the face with a stern reminder to not let that happen again.

Returning to a band you discovered years ago but somewhat forgot about with one of their new releases always makes for an interesting experience. In a lot of ways, it's a way of seeing whether or not your beloved find grew or stagnated with their sound since the last time you listened. In the case of In The Company Of Serpents and Lux, thankfully the band have grown, and grown quite significantly. When I first heard these guys with Of The Flock, they were playing a riff heavy sludge with a sort of darkly melodic undertone to it, but with Lux they've gotten a lot groovier and more atmospheric than I ever recall them sounding. Cuts like "The Fool's Journey" and "Scales Of Maat" establish a strong delivery that is essentially sustained throughout the rest of the album, with some minor variations here and there: crunchy, surprisingly catchy and head bobbing, and interspersed with powerful, emotive interludes of airy melodic passages.

The atmosphere is really what sells Lux, greatly helping In The Company Of Serpents feel like more than just another riff after riff sludge band cycling through the motions. In particular Lux brings a clear influence of an almost jammy, psychedelic blues rocks style to the equation that I can't remember being there the last time I crossed paths with the band. Some tracks embrace this more than others, such as "The Chasm At The Mouth Of The All," which is absolutely excellent, but for the most part it's a mood felt throughout Lux's entirety. When In The Company Of Serpents choose to go all in with this style, they follow through on the vocal front as well, the voice of frontman Grant Netzorg taking on more of a soft spoken, gravelly touch that almost makes you think of some old grandpa singing along while strumming an acoustic guitar on his Alabama porch. It's oddly satisfying, to say the least.

Perhaps I may have missed some sort of pivotal evolution that the band underwent between releasing Of The Flock and now, but whatever happened, it definitely upgraded their sound for the better. I'm somewhat reminded with Lux of what Glorior Belli did with their black metal, injecting it with the groovy, Southern blues rock influence, but here In The Company Of Serpents seem to have taken that idea and applied it to sludge. The result is a delivery that comes off as far more dynamic, emotive, and all around distinct than I ever remember the band sounding. I may have gotten lazy with my band following with In The Company Of Serpents after they released Of The Flock, but Lux has me pretty firmly convinced that I should keep these guys fairly high on my "Pay Attention" list going forward.

One track up to stream now for the ravenous. Full meal in 10 days for those of more patient personalities.