ALBUM REVIEW
DUNGEON SERPENT – Lamentations Of The Shadowkingdoms
Dark, expansive and progressive melodic death metal.
After a five-year hiatus, Vancouver-based DUNGEON SERPENT are back to breathe some life into our playlists. The band's 2021 debut, "World Of Sorrows", revisited the traditional balance melodic death metal strikes between aggression and melodic expression. Its follow-up, "Lamentations Of The Shadowkingdoms", takes that approach further through a broader compositional vision, significantly expanding the project's musical scope. Arawn remains at the helm, handling guitars, bass, keyboards and vocals, while Bhraonáin's contributions on drums and Anju Singh's violin work are among the key elements shaping the new album's sound.
The album's opening track, 'A Wanderer's Dirge/Ashes From The Temple', offers an unconventional introduction to DUNGEON SERPENT's new musical direction. Remaining instrumental for an extended stretch, it gradually establishes its atmosphere through slow-moving strings, keyboard textures and shifting rhythmic passages. As the guitars enter, this expansive narrative moves towards the forceful guitar sound of Swedish melodic death metal, while the melodic depth provided by the keyboards and violin broadens the track's dramatic scope. Crucially, the atmospheric elements never overshadow its death metal identity. Arawn's songwriting weaves melodic flourishes directly into the riffs and rhythmic movement, allowing the two approaches to complement one another.
With 'Festering Malediction (The Fifth Kingdom)', the album's more aggressive side comes into sharper focus. Razor-sharp guitar transitions, pinch harmonics and harsh vocals combine with blast-beat passages to give the track a more direct death metal character. Yet the composition also ventures beyond familiar melodic death metal formulas, incorporating rhythmic breaks and unexpected shifts in direction. The interplay between more crushing guitar sections and clean keyboard melodies keeps its dynamics in constant flux. Arawn's musical approach bears traces of bands such as Arghoslent, Intestine Baalism and Eucharist. Black metal also makes its influence felt, particularly through its melodic and epic dimensions. Rather than simply recreating the sound of a particular era, however, these influences serve to bring different traditions together in a cohesive composition.
As the album progresses, the scope of the songwriting expands further. 'Rainland's Elegy (The Lamentations Of The Shadowkingdoms)' brings together piano-backed melodic passages, spoken-word vocals and Arawn's harsher delivery, which at times edges towards a scream. The melodic phrases developed in opposition to one another by the guitars are particularly central to the track's emotional impact. The bass guitar also deserves special mention here. Arawn's distinct, constantly moving bass lines do more than simply support the guitars' melodic density; they carve out an independent space for themselves within the composition. This approach reinforces the album's progressive side without turning the music into a display of technical showmanship.
At around twelve minutes, 'Garden Of Grotesque Forms (Act I. Lineage Of Failure, Act II. Dreamlike Odyssey)' brings the album's various elements together more comprehensively than any other track. The dark, ponderous melodic framework of its opening section gradually gives way to more animated guitar arrangements and aggressive rhythmic passages. Throughout its development, the composition moves continually between the traditional riffing of melodic death metal and black metal's colder, more epic atmosphere. In particular, the expansive melodic passage in the closing section, where violin, keyboards and guitar solos converge, delivers one of the album's most emotionally affecting moments. The violin never feels like an instrument added merely for the sake of variety; it broadens the melodic language of the songwriting and contributes directly to the tracks' dramatic development.
'Tranquil Sleep Of The Dead, Endless Seas Aflame' is another significant example of this expanded compositional approach. As elsewhere on the album, the extended compositions avoid revolving around a single riff or melodic idea, instead building organic connections between distinct sections. The arrangement of the six tracks, allowing them to flow into one another, further reinforces the record's cohesive structure. Each song retains its own character while contributing to a shared atmosphere, ensuring that the album feels like more than a collection of compositions simply placed side by side.
The production plays an important role in bringing this broader musical vision to life. Damian Herring's mixing and mastering work noticeably improves the separation of the instruments compared to the more limited sound of the debut. The clarity of the bass guitar's constantly shifting lines is a particular asset amid the intricate guitar arrangements. Bhraonáin's drumming is also central to this development. His transitions between blast beats, double bass and shifting rhythmic patterns give the compositions the movement their extended structures demand. Replacing the programmed drums of the previous album with a live performance is more than a technical upgrade; it directly changes the music's dynamics. That said, the organic, detail-rich production can occasionally cause certain passages to blur together on first listen. Particularly during the more densely arranged sections, it takes several listens to fully take in everything the album has to offer.
"Lamentations Of The Shadowkingdoms" draws on the creative heyday of melodic death metal in the 1990s without becoming a nostalgic retread. Musical connections to bands such as Arghoslent, early Eucharist and Intestine Baalism help explain where DUNGEON SERPENT are coming from. At the same time, the combination of keyboards, violin, prominent bass lines and more expansive rhythmic arrangements gives the project room to develop an identity of its own. One of the album's greatest strengths is its approach to songwriting, which treats melody not as a counterpoint to aggression but as an integral part of death metal itself.
A far more expansive and mature realisation of the potential displayed on the debut, "Lamentations Of The Shadowkingdoms" strengthens DUNGEON SERPENT's standing within underground melodic death metal. The density of its arrangements can make it somewhat difficult to get into on first listen, but the melodic connections buried within the compositions and their steadily unfolding structures provide ample reason to return to it. Bringing together the aggression of traditional melodic death metal, the epic darkness of black metal and a more progressive approach to songwriting, this is a noteworthy release from a band that remains rooted in the genre's past without seeking to build its future by simply imitating it.
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