Blog author: Alex Stojanovic Well, it's been a quite a minute since we did one of these album anniversary articles, but it hit me that we got an amazing album that is celebrating a milestone anniversary today. Evile's third studio album Five Serpent's Teeth celebrates a full decade of existence today. Although it was released on this day in Europe, and on October 18th here in North America, it's still celebrating its birthday today. |
I've written about this album quite a bit over the last few years, and why it means a lot to me, that I don't really need to go over why again. However, since we are celebrating the album's birthday today, and for those who maybe haven't read my blogs about this album, I'll delight you with the reasons anyway. | |
First off, let's take a look back at the events that led up to and surrounded this album, because it was recorded and released during a pivotal time in Evile's career. They arrived on the scene with their Flemming Rasmussen produced debut album Enter The Grave in 2007, a modern thrash classic, and they were heralded as one of the leaders of the thrash revival with the new wave of bands towards the end of the 2000s. While on tour for that album, they ended up supporting many of the greatest names in metal, such as Megadeth, Exodus, 3 Inches Of Blood, Satyricon and Machine Head. In 2009, they got to work on their sophomore album Infected Nations with producer Russ Russell at Parlour Studios. It was released in September of that year, and they embarked on a tour of Scandinavia supporting Amon Amarth. However, just three days into the tour, tragedy struck, when on October 5, bassist Mike Alexander died of pulmonary embolism at the age of 32. Mike's passing made headline news on several metal websites, with many bands and fans offering support for the band, as well as Mike's family and friends.
Arriving in 2011, they went into Parlour Studios once again with Russ Russell, and got to work on what would become Five Serpent's Teeth. As I mentioned above, this was a pivotal album in their career, because they were coming off a really extensive tour supporting Infected Nations, but also coming off of the devastation of losing their best friend and comrade. According to Ol Drake, Mike's absence loomed over the whole writing and recording process, but in a way, it was a big source of inspiration for the band to create something special in his memory. The album spawned some of the band's best songs such as "Five Serpent's Teeth", "Cult", "Eternal Empire", "Origin Of Oblivion", "Cult" and their epic ballad "In Memoriam". It's also where I believe they really honed their songwriting skills.
Musically and lyrically, Five Serpent's Teeth is definitely Evile's most mature and diverse album. Matt Drake took a lot of inspiration from sci-fi novels and films for the lyrics. The songs are also not all blazing fast and heavy. There's fast, mid-paced and slow tempos, along with aggression and melody, making for a well-balanced metal meal. | |
Now, one of the main reasons why this album means a lot to me is because it came out when I was still in the process mourning the loss of my grandfather in the spring of 2011, who I was really really close with. As a result, the track "In Memoriam" really hits home for that very reason right there, because it's a song about loss and how you deal with it, so it came out at the right time. Apparently, the bass intro is something that Mike Alexander would play at soundcheck, so to honour his memory, the band used that bass line at the beginning of the song. I get chills every time I hear this track.
At the same time, this album not only takes me back to my college years, which even though quite honestly were the most boring of all my schooling years, it still makes me look back on that time, and the other experiences I was going through at that time. Anytime you listen to an album that takes you back to a point in your life, it not only makes you look back at the things you were going through, but it makes you look back on the type of person you were back then, and you end up doing a comparison to the person you are today, and you realize how much you've grown and matured as a person since that time. That to me is the biggest thing that happens to me when I have those flashback moments while listening to an album that takes me back in time. That just goes to show the power of music.
In my case for example, Five Serpent's Teeth came out when I turned 19, and I just turned 29 a couple of weeks ago. Back then, I was in college for a program that I ultimately didn't end up liking, nor did I have any interest in pursuing a career in. I was also kind of immature (as we all are pretty much at that age), but thankfully a lot of the life lessons I learned back then have helped me get to where I am today. Fast forward to 2021, I'm working as a drum teacher with a music school, recording and performing live with bands, keeping Metal Master Kingdom going as a side hobby, and am always on the lookout for different musical opportunities, regardless of genre or style, to have a sustainable living as a working musician.
At the same time, this album not only takes me back to my college years, which even though quite honestly were the most boring of all my schooling years, it still makes me look back on that time, and the other experiences I was going through at that time. Anytime you listen to an album that takes you back to a point in your life, it not only makes you look back at the things you were going through, but it makes you look back on the type of person you were back then, and you end up doing a comparison to the person you are today, and you realize how much you've grown and matured as a person since that time. That to me is the biggest thing that happens to me when I have those flashback moments while listening to an album that takes me back in time. That just goes to show the power of music.
In my case for example, Five Serpent's Teeth came out when I turned 19, and I just turned 29 a couple of weeks ago. Back then, I was in college for a program that I ultimately didn't end up liking, nor did I have any interest in pursuing a career in. I was also kind of immature (as we all are pretty much at that age), but thankfully a lot of the life lessons I learned back then have helped me get to where I am today. Fast forward to 2021, I'm working as a drum teacher with a music school, recording and performing live with bands, keeping Metal Master Kingdom going as a side hobby, and am always on the lookout for different musical opportunities, regardless of genre or style, to have a sustainable living as a working musician.
| We recently did a Top 10 Thrash Albums of the 2010s list, and Five Serpent's Teeth ending up scoring a spot in the top 3, which you can see here. After experiencing all the ups and downs at the turn of the last decade, Evile poured everything into this album, and made another modern thrash masterpiece. |
Just for all those reasons alone, Five Serpent's Teeth ranks as my favourite Evile album, and in my opinion, their best one. I know there were a ton of other amazing albums that came out in 2011 that we didn't do anniversary articles on. However, I'm going to post my list of my top 10 albums from 2011 to celebrate the decade birthdays of those records.
Thank you for reading. What does Five Serpent's Teeth mean to you? What was going on in your life when you heard this album? Share your stories!
Thank you for reading. What does Five Serpent's Teeth mean to you? What was going on in your life when you heard this album? Share your stories!