Description
Label Review.
2019 album. Rock. Also available on Vinyl.
Our Overview.
Los Angeles based alt-metal band Silver Snakes known for combining hardcore industrial influences to produce a brutally beautiful sound are releasing their fourth studio album ‘Death And The Moon’. The band, comprised of Alex Estrada (vocals / guitar), Mike Trujillo (bass) and Garrett Harney (drums), continues their evolution of sound by incorporating influences of ‘90’s industrial and elements of doom metal into their post-hardcore sound. The result is cathartic and innovative. Heavy, stabbing riffs crescendo into massive walls of guitars that give way to atmospheric and at times ethereal moments of calm that relay underlying messages of sabotage and deception.
Inside a nondescript industrial building, just outside of Los Angeles’ Chinatown neighbourhood, Silver Snakes’ singer, songwriter and producer, Alex Estrada, sits at the helm of his Pale Moon Audio Studios, putting the finishing touches on the bands new release, ‘Death and the Moon’. The setting certainly influenced the music, as it’s gritty, abrasive, and, at times, terrifying good. The new album, the second for Claudio Sanchez’ EVIL INK RECORDS, follows 2017’s ‘Scathe’ EP which saw the band leaning in a more electronic direction and featuring covers of acts who’d helped shape their current direction, such as Garbage and Ministry.
‘Death and the Moon’ expands upon that path, finding the band as much in the industrial space, as in the dark rock roots of previous full length, ‘Saboteur’. Lyrically, ‘Death and the Moon ‘follows in its predecessor’s footsteps, and one will certainly recognise similar guitar work but from the opening notes of track 1, “Smokedance,” you’ll immediately discover a synth hook and electronic beat. ‘Death and the Moon’ is a harder, more abrasive, album than its predecessor. The industrial motifs are more pronounced. Everything feels bigger, harder hitting, and more epic than anything Silver Snakes have released in the past. There are more electronic elements to making Silver Snakes a band in transition.