"Xgodx" the Excellent 2nd Studio Album by Japanese Melodic Death Metal Band Serpent

1. XGODX
2. Cannibalistic Dream
3. Devil in a Dream
4. Plastic Arts
5. Severance
6. Baptism
7. Slave
8. Suicide Diary
9. Clot
10. Funeral of Light

Kobe Japan’s Serpent took a musical journey of their own and in so doing, their 2^nd full length album "xGODx" was released in February 2008. Serpent is one of those bands that does not release albums very often but when they do, their work is superb! The first song I listened to from this album is the one called Plastic Arts. Vocalist Ken switches back and forth between the rough vocal growl and the lower, raspier vocal sound. You could easily say that the lower voice sounds like something Chris Barnes would have done in the early 1990’s. But you cannot compare Serpent to Cannibal Corpse in terms of melody. Serpent clearly has that other band beat decisively in that category. Nonetheless, I’m pretty sure that Barnes would be proud to hear someone else experimenting vocally like that. As of 2018 the status of Serpent is unknown but the music is no less brilliant than when the first time I ever heard these guys even if their vocals are far from stellar.

The album begins with the Gothic influenced title track xGODx. It has piano playing in it. Then comes the extremely melodic masterpiece Cannibalistic Dream. It is about someone who is feeling sick on the inside because of the existence of the Reaper. This creature has been on the covers of the albums by Children of Bodom. As Ken growls, we hear the lyrics “My heart is wrenched with this dull red life flowing out.” He is referring to the liquid called blood which sustains human life. Basically the song is about someone that is having a very bad dream in which he is basically being eaten from the inside out. The guitar work slowly builds up until there is a change in the riffing.

Severance has a sort of piano/keyboard part in it that sounds like Finnish melodic death metal veterans Kalmah. And then, I hear a little bit of Cradle of Filth as the atmospheric sound kicks in. These Japanese guys sure know how to create a song that has several influences! The sky is black and there is rain coming down. The person is feeling as if his soul has some kind of disease and to him, words have no meaning. His desires have long been suppressed and he is in a state of deep depression. This is a subject covered by many melodic death metal bands and it seems like the heavy metal market is over-saturated with bands like Serpent. The other thing is that suicide is a big problem in Japan and you wonder whether this band has lyrical themes like this to bring up a certain point or not.

"Plastic Arts" is One of the Best Songs in the Career of the Band Serpent

However, let's not forget to mention the song Plastic Arts, one of the best songs of their career. This was the song that got me into the album. It has both raspy and rough vocals, plus the excellent riffing. This song should put to rest the idea that Japan doesn't have good heavy metal songs or bands because they sure do! Even with the gloomy lyrical content of the song, this one remains a favorite of mine even today.

As usual, Ken’s very hard to understand vocal growls means that the album rating will lose at least 15 points. Which means that this album will more than likely get no higher than 85 points out of 100. Slave features some guitar work that is similar to the song Bloody Gates on the band’s previous work. The song also features some use of the wah pedal, something that Metallica’s Kirk Hammett used a lot in the 1980’s. Suicide Diary has a clean vocal part in it, something that Sweden’s In Flames would use in their albums such as Colony and Clayman. The song is about someone that wants to end his own life as night falls and the sky becomes black and grey. He wonders what he was born for and what his purpose in this life is. Ken says: “my existence has no meaning.” The end of the song features some piano as the electric guitar slows down and gets into the background. Clot is a song about someone whose sins come back to him when he closes his eyes. His body is scarred and he eventually sees his past, future, and solitude burst and go away. He is stuck in a room awaiting his demise. The song still has melody even though it is one of the album’s weaker songs. This song is an explanation of one of the aspects of human nature and that is the fact that humans have always been sinners. The phrase nobody’s perfect applies here.