Holy Serpent have seen a genesis that will without a doubt become an infamous tale. Formed in early 2014 the band had demoed some material to appear on their recent debut. Those demos were then discovered by the legendary cult record label Riding Easy Records.
Holy Serpent’s rise to the big leagues is no accident. Propelled by viscous sonic power the band won’t waste time to leave their mark on the heavy scene.
Before Holy Serpent had even hit the stage they had an international record deal under their belts. Keen skaters and proprietors of all things green and riff the band is like a psyched out Electric Wizard, also taking heavy influence from Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats, whilst carefully maintaining a contemporary edge and a modern prowess. Holy Serpent have since signed an Australian deal for all bookings with Von Grimm Records and have seen their debut release shoot them to #8 on the Doom charts alongside such legends as Elder and Salem’s Pot. There are two singles available to stream from the debut record.
Fool’s Gold is a slow fuzzed out trundle with a descending chord progression, slowly but surely grinding your face into the ground, weighting your shoulders and causing your eyelids to grow heavy. Shroom Doom has a bit more swing from a half time drum beat. The lead riff is a thick wall of viscous sonic power that brings you in towards the vocal mainstay. If you are under the impression that Holy Serpent are a powerful band on record you will also be happy to learn that this is unprecedented to their live performance.
Holy Serpent is Scott Penberthy on guitar and vocals, Nick Donoughue on guitar and Michael Mcafie on bass. The band have recently inducted a new drummer, and have been training him up for live performance in their secret Melbourne jam location.
“[The] songs were written over the course of February to July 2014” says Scott. “Our first 5 songs we’ve ever written. It was recorded in the lounge room at my old place, they were supposed to be demos but turned out better than expected so we released the demos.” One thing you will learn is that although the music sound serious, the band members are quite casual in their attitude. “[as for] what it all means? It’s just heavy rock n roll. [It] doesn’t have to mean anything. It’s more a lifestyle choice and the music you choose to accompany that lifestyle.”
And what’s next for Holy Serpent? “We’re writing like mad for a new album, all we want to do is put all our time and energy into writing the best possible music we can.” I’ll tell you one thing, Scott showed me an early demo for one of the new tracks. This stuff sounds absolutely monstrous.
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