Pure classic sounding blues influenced Heavy Metal is back with the Swedish trio SERPENT! Do you like BLACK SABBATH? Of course you do! What about PENTAGRAM? That's a yes as well I take it? SERPENT won't disappoint you at all then, in fact - they'll make you hungry for more and more - just like those two beauties mentioned above.

These Swedish wonders are proof that you don't have to put your amps on as much distortion as possible, you don't have to be overly fancy on the fret board, no need for blast beats and pure furious growls to be a good Heavy Metal band. No, all you need is to keep it real and keep on with what the Gods of Metal started - SERPENT seem to be doing just that.

"Slaves of Babylon" oozes with the one thing I think lacks in Metal nowadays, the ability to capture your attention and keep it from start to finish with each track. The ability to be able to infuse the Blues with Heavy Metal and show the influence in the genre the way the guys did it back in the day.

There's something pretty seductive about "Slaves of Babylon" that sort of paints a picture in your head of a Heavy Metal bar filled with men with long hair drinking beer with girls all around them. If you have no idea what I'm talking about then you must be under-age, be completely oblivious to these things or have no imagination because let's face it, it might be Glam but we've all had the image of partying like MOTLEY CRUES' video to "Girls, Girls, Girls" to some good Heavy Metal.

"Nekromant" might be the shortest track on the album at less than 2 minutes long but hell does it pack a punch! Well, of course it should, it leads into the best track on the entire release "The Ritual" - "The Ritual" is a full on stomper, if this doesn't get your head banging and your horns in the air, then, I'm not sure what will.

The best thing about "Slaves of Babylon" is that as previously stated - these guys like to take after the guys who started Heavy Metal and keep that raw sound, however, they've put their own twist on it, made it modern and fresh without making a mess out of it. In fact, I'll be far enough to say these guys are one of the best bands to do this!

I'll admit myself, I hadn't heard of SERPENT before this review and now? Now they've been on repeat, been thrown on my iPod and actually become one of the top played bands.
It takes a lot for a band to just make a record that can become your new favourite release immediately by the first track and it's a crying shame that I've been missing out. With that, you should go listen to them now and don't stop!