Vehemency Of all the deeply occultistic, magical black metal bands of recent years, this Greek group spews forth one of the most interesting efforts in the field under the moniker Serpent Noir and their debut EP Sanguis XI. It is, however, misleading to label this as mere black metal because there’s a big load of death metal murkiness running through the veins of this twenty minute piece of both sophisticated and savage occult metal.

Even without any previous knowledge of the band, I was able to spot that certain Greek sound in the production, nodding to e.g. Wodulf’s recent debut’s direction, meaning that it’s somewhat loose sounding but still effective, and at least miles away from any sterile sound. After the brief introduction, ”Midnight Consciousness” begins the mid-tempo meandering properly where relatively low-tuned riffs and growls meet with discordant black metal menace and, later on, rapid blast beats. ”Invocation of Sorath” follows then the same path, and also introducing some distant clean chants not unlike Behexen’s My Soul for His Glory.”The Disputers” possesses the most old school sounding death metal riffage, catchy as hell yet not loosing the overall morbid black metal atmosphere at any point.

Next up is the two-part name monster "Ritualis Draconis, Part I: Opening the Eye of Set / Part II: Rising of the Dragonforce" that is pure ritualistic ambient music, sounding like it was naturally executed in an echoing hall. Despite the ambient tag, guitars and percussion are used here as well to great success, so don’t expect any lackluster one-note synth humming. ”The Eleventh Blood” returns to the metal in the very same way as the songs before ”Ritualis Draconis” except that suddenly in the middle of the speedy, chaotic black metal appears a chant-like quiet section of clean guitars, hymns and subtle percussion as in the previous track.

Perhaps due to the somewhat weak production, Sanguis XI wasn’t so luring at first, but repeated spins have made the record a very enjoyable listen that just requires firm attention. Sanguis XI reeks of sinister magic in a truly authentic way - do not ignore the evocative lyrics that come along - so that all in all the EP is most certainly a success. Definitely a recommendable purchase for anyone into ritualistic, truly evil sounding death / black metal. Personally, my expectations for any possible future releases are rather high but I’m sure Serpent Noir won’t disappoint next time either.