Weight Of Light is their full-length debut, and you'll hear the standard doom elements: downtuned Sabbath riffs played slow and slower. The plodding, crushing sound is heavy and intense, but gets monotonous in a hurry.
SerpentCult cranks up the tempo from time to time, and when they add that sludgy groove they are at their strongest. The songs on Weight Of Light are hit and miss. The nearly 9 minute long "Arkanum" seems to drag on forever, mired in repetition.
On the other hand, the album's opening track "New World Order" is brisk and streamlined with hooks and memorable melodies. There are several other songs in that vein, that have some variety and hooks.
Vocalist Michelle Nocon has a good voice, but is underutilized. There are lengthy instrumental sections in every song, and she sometimes gets buried in the mix as well. Weight Of Light shows some promise in the doom/stoner metal genre, but SerpentCult needs to focus more on what makes them unique.
(released January 27, 2009 on Rise Above Records)
