If you were to take a death metal record and slow it down considerably, you’d end up with something that sounds quite similar musically to SerpentCult’s 2008 release, Weight of Light. However, when the vocals kick in, it’s a different story entirely, as singer Michelle Nocon turns out to be one of the few female screamers on the scene to front an extreme metal band (and who is obviously influenced quite a bit by Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson). But as you dig deeper into the album, it eventually becomes quite apparent that SerpentCult’s preferred style is straight-ahead doom metal, as evidenced by such crawling/sluggish ditties as “Screams from the Deep,” the title track, and “Arkanum.” With riffs as thick as molasses, it’ll be hard to escape from this musical tar pit trap, better known as Weight of Light. – Greg Prato