After six years Sydney’s Daemon Pyre closes the book on the band and sees them go out with a bang. Things were going so well in the early part of the band’s career, 2015 saw their debut album release which achieved worldwide praise, but two years of continuous touring caused them, for various reasons, to implode and from there it all went quiet…
Fast forward to 2020 where we see the band reemerge with a brand new album Serpent Gods And A Dying Sun – unfinished business maybe? Opener “Red Sun Phenomenon” is full of pure reignited rage and “Laudem Blasphemus” has some great guitar solos entwined throughout. “Enslaved God Scenario” is unrelenting from start to finish which balances when the scales tip to a more melodic side with “Eternal Sky”.
Frontman Sam Rilatt discusses the lyrical content of the album:
Much of Serpent Gods and a Dying Sun, from a lyrical context, was written in a way that I’ve not written before. I wanted to approach the creativity on this project in a way that felt in keeping with how I came to be involved in it. Andy, Matt and Simon knew that I had left music behind to get myself healthy and focus on being a husband and father. I felt that it took true friendship and courage on their part to ask me to be involved and to position it in a way that took so much of the pressure off of me, which for so many years, I had felt being in bands. So to honour that, to honour them asking me to return to be part of the something special that is Daemon Pyre, I made a decision to approach the lyric writing in a way that felt raw and real and unencumbered by intention or ego. Instead of writing to tell a particular story or send a particular message, I let my subconscious and my emotions speak. I let the music that the guys had created speak to me in a way I’ve never done before and allowed the melodies and rhythms to inform the words I chose.
Full-on blast beat mode is engaged for both “The Dying Spark” and my highlight track from the album “Decay”. It’s at this point where I start to look at some of the previous track titles and how they take shape within the album and think about the emotional connection with them. “Hopeless One” and “Northern Light” are for me the rawest, grittiest tracks on the album.
The two final numbers, “The Serpent and The Master” and “Unto A Dying World”, really define the journey through the album and almost give you the feeling that this process has been for their fans as much as it is for them.
It feels bittersweet to be introduced to a band by hearing their final offering but Serpents Gods And A Dying Sun won’t wither away in my collection anytime soon.
Serpent Gods And A Dying Sun will be released on May 22nd
