Dool - "Golden Serpents" (Ex-Devil's Blood)

February 2, 2017

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Last week, we posted a list of ten heavy metal cliches, but I almost included at least two more lists’ worth of other ideas, and one of those amounted to vaguely rock-and-roll bands with creepy female singers as an aesthetic and sonic focal point. My critique would have been, more or less “why bother when The Devil’s Blood already existed?”

Dool get a pass. Actually, more than a pass, the outfit gets an enthusiastic recommendation, which comes as no surprise considering the band features The Devil’s Blood’s old rhythm section, not to mention members of Gold and Malkovich. Their upcoming debut album, Here Now, There Then, is a cohesive, dark, and catchy gothic rock record which nonetheless escapes many of the tired psychedelic cliches that so often sink these kinds of bands. I knows what it does well, and focuses on that – something both the third Devil’s Blood record and former front man Selim Lemouchi’s solo records did not accomplish (which seemed to be sort-of the point, at the time).

Here Now, There Then works so well, in part, because vocalist Ryanne van Dorst has a relatively unique voice as far as anything resembling metal goes. Here’s Dorst on the song “Golden Serpents”

“’Golden Serpents’ is a song about escapism through hallucinogens. A friend told me about her visions of golden snakes in the trees, and it reminded me of my youth in small town suburbia, where we used to take drugs excessively to escape the boredom of every day teenage life.”

Stream the track below. Here Now, There Then will be released on February 17 via Prophecy Productions. Pre order it here.

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