SOD :
HOD - " Serpent "
9/10 skulls
Ibex Moon Records
The Serpent lay coiled, ready to strike. A bead of sweat forms on your forehead as you squirm, back against the wall, trying to pick your moment of escape. Suddenly, without warning, as if reading your mind, the Serpent strikes. Fangs sink into your throat and almost instantly your neck and chest constrict and go numb. Your breathing becomes shallow and you tumble to your side as the rest of your body becomes paralyzed. The Serpent unhinges its jaw and curls up in the space between your chest and the concrete floor. His eyes lock upon yours and he stares hypnotically, waiting for the final spark of your life to be extinguished. (DH)
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ZERO TOLERANCE :
HOD - "Serpent"
4/5 stars
Ibex Moon Records
This is the debut album from Texans Hod, following on from their "Cry and Piss Yourself" demo of two years ago. However, as new an entity as Hod may be, their music is built from many years of individual experience playing with the likes of the revered Necrovore and Thornspawn - and all that experience is evident on this venomous explosion of black, death, and thrash metal fury. "Serpent" is occasionally chaotic but always sounds utterly committed, the blood, sweat and evil intent seeming to ooze from the speakers as the raw, bleeding, metallic violence rages around you. "Demoralizer" delivers the kind of brutal adrenaline injection that Slayer once did oh so long ago, driven along by the insane drum battery of Dennis Sanders while the riffs slash and tear like a storm of steel. Perhaps the most powerful weapon in the Hod arsenal, though, is Beer Reebs, whose savage vocal presence looms large over the entire album, adding a palpable darkness, an intensity you can taste to proceedings. "Serpent" is metal of the most violent and unforgiving kind - and all the better for it.
(Chris Kee)