I haven’t been a fan of Killswitch Engage for some time now. There have been some moments here and there, but Alive or Just Breathing is really all I need from those guys. That having been said, I have always appreciated Adam D’s approach to the guitar, and his work as a producer hasn’t been too shabby either. Given that, the promise of a more extreme project from this very talented musician, especially one involving Corpsegrinder (Cannibal Corpse) on vocals and Shannon Lucas (ex-Black Dahlia Murder) on drums, was a very enticing prospect. Even better, reports seemed to hint that this passion project would follow one of the best principles of creation: "write for an audience of one." Forget about expectations; do what you love and it will always be rewarding.
In the end, this approach pays off for the project as a whole. The enjoyment of the recording process shines through. Stylistically, save for a few elements, Serpentine Dominion doesn’t sound all that different from A Skeletal Domain. That album had already traded some of the more brutal aspects of the guitar sound for melodeath tricks, so the jump to a few metalcore tropes isn’t a distant leap. Subtract Adam’s clean backup vocal additions (as on "Divide, Conquer, Burn, and Destroy") and this is an equally intense release right down to the choice of distortion. And not to worry, these lighter moments are mostly tasteful and brief. I argue that they spice up what might otherwise be a pretty typical-sounding death metal record, though I have some complaints as well.
No disrespect to Jesse Leech. The man helped me a lot during my early years of metalhead development and I like his delivery. But he has never been a fantastic lyricist. Jesse wrote much if not all of Serpentine Dominion, and it certainly comes off as a little cheesy and on the nose at times; even more so when these clean segments start to sound VERY similar. I do give him credit for choosing more political topics, but it's certainly lacking subtlety. Then again, this is mostly a death metal record, so subtlety isn't necessarily what we're going for. What instead strikes me as interesting in this territory is hearing Fisher’s brutal growls backed by soaring melody instead of crunches and squeals. “Jagged Cross Legions” is the clearest example of this effect pulled off effectively.
Ultimately, Serpentine Dominion is a fun album that doesn't blow many hairs back but is plenty catchy. The gang vocals on "The Vengeance in Me" set a nice tone for the record along with the varied guitarwork throughout. My personal preference has me wishing for more lyrical substance, but you may or may not care about that. If you like music that straddles the line between the core and death genres like The Black Dahlia Murder and The Hudson Horror, you may find yourself doing some headbanging to this one.