UMUR Serpent Temptation is the debut full-length studio album by US death/ thrash act Incubus. The album was released in 1988 by Brutal Records. The album was re-released in 1996 with re-recorded vocal tracks, revised lyrics and new cover artwork.

The music on the album is thrash metal with a few hints towards death metal. Think early Sepultura or early Kreator and you´re just about there. Listening to the vocals on this original version of the album, it´s obvious why the band chose to re-record them for the 1996 re-release. The vocals are raw and kind of raspy as the style/ genre requires, but they are pretty badly performed. They are without punch and it´s quite a shame as the rest of the music is actually pretty good old school thrash metal. The production doesn´t help on my overall impression of the album either. Again the sound lacks punch and the drums have a kind of odd sound to them ( something that´s unbelievable they didn´t fix on the re-release).

Most people became aware of Incubus through their 2nd album Beyond The Unknown (1990) which added a lot more death metal influences to the band´s sound. So it´s probably a bit unfair to review Serpent Temptation in a retrospective fashion, but I can´t help compare the two albums in terms of quality. And there is a major difference. Compared to Beyond The Unknown, Serpent Temptation simply fall flat on it´s face and be warned that even though you are a fan of Beyond The Unknown, you won´t necessarily find listening pleasure in Serpent Temptation ( at least not in the original version).

So all in all Serpent Temptation isn´t a revelation and honestly it´s a below average thrash metal album even for 1988. Maybe I´m being too nice but a 2.5 star rating is warranted.