Despite their name, Serpentine Path have never entailed very much winding, at least as far their music is concerned. Sure, the members took separate, circuitous paths to arrive in the New York all-star quintet, with individual stops in Electric Wizard, Unearthly Trance, Ramesses and the Howling Wind along the way; by definition, that’s true of most every supergroup. But on their self-titled 2012 debut, Serpentine Path showcased an unwavering focus, marching through eight barbaric bits of doom at very low tempos and with very little distraction. They occasionally decorated songs with spooky samples as preludes and sometimes let guitarist Tim Bagshaw step out of rhythmic lockstep for slow, swollen solos. Mostly, though, they pressed ahead, with Ryan Lipynsky’s bellicose rasp peeking through the band’s deliberate plod, a dim lantern lighting the way through a darkened forest. In spite of the extensive résumés of those involved, Serpentine Path established a purpose and pursued it doggedly, avoiding the most general pitfall of veteran talent aggregates: indecision.
In the last two years, Serpentine Path haven’t veered from that course, but they have added a fifth member and second guitarist, Winter co-founder Stephen Flam. On Emanations, Flam lends finesse to that focus, giving their doom a new depth. Flam refuses to mirror or retrench the burl of Bagshaw’s riffs; instead, they work together to add underlying layers to the brood, with lines of dissonant squeal and sordid distortion peeling off of the group’s headlong direction. The distinction becomes clear only a minute in to Emanations, when a brief break in Lipynsky’s arrogant agitation allows the guitars to split at the seams—one snarling and thin, the other thick and suffocating. For Serpentine Path, Flam introduces a new element of the unknown, and the established group responds in kind for the entire album. They disrupt rhythms where they once would have stayed in time, and they break patterns that, only two years ago, felt settled. If Serpentine Path were a declaration of intent, Emanations is an attempt to steer clear of its rut, to make sure that the supergroup’s core doesn’t become deadweight.
Serpentine Path haven't given up on doom, or even steered from it, really. These seven songs still feel like leaden hammers swung by giants. “Disfigured Colossus” is enormous and odd, grisly guitar tones twisted over an imposing rhythm section. “Torment” is an italicized attack, its mid-tempo lurch aiming ever ahead. Throughout Emanations, though, Serpentine Path find subtle, compelling ways to scatter that power, to accompany their force so it never seems to be the sole purpose. “Treacherous Waters”, for instance, flips between an insistent lumber and double-kick bursts, the switches in tempo reinforcing the dour temperament of Lipynsky’s lyrics. “Drawn into the depths,” he bellows after one of those changeups, the band surging beneath him. “Vacant incantations.” And “Torment", that closing fisticuff, zigs and zags, pushing through a bridge bent by a bleary-eyed guitar soliloquy and ending with glorious guitar harmonies. That push and pull between insurgence and excursions is most evident on “Systematic Extinction”, a fetching stoner anthem that moves Serpentine Path the farthest afield from their stylistic center that they’ve ever been. Flam and Bagshaw step out for solos between every verse and chorus, lysergic tones spinning into a slow, psychedelic pinwheel. With its stack of refrains and bridges, pregnant stop-time pauses and careful crescendo crest, it’s the most consciously crafted song in Serpentine Path’s catalogue.
On a song like “Systematic Extinction”, you can feel Serpentine Path pressing against their previous limitations by folding their members’ respective experiences back into their own stylistic rubric. More often than not, supergroups seem to take the opposite tack, starting from the ideas that made the musicians successful in the past and, with time, possibly finding a distinction all their own. On their debut, Serpentine Path decided how they would sound and what they would ply; on Emanations, they’ve used that starting point as a real beginning, the origin of a path from which they can move off and on at will.
