Condenados – El Camino de la Serpiente Review

The flair for emulating the perfect classic Metal music album has gone too far with Condenados “El Camino de la Serpiente.” What do I mean by gone too far? It’s simple. “El Camino de la Serpiente” has the same pros and cons late 1960 and early 1970 Proto Metal albums had. That means, very precisely here, Condenados had their way of recording with the same overtones and melodic structures that some bands used back then even the poor recording of vocals. I’ll elaborate. In some records from that epoch my dear child of the night will notice that vocals are much lower than the instruments. Not only, the way it was recorded made it loose quality. Ergo, meaning that the most important feature of a song – vocals – can’t be heard well. Right, that said, it doesn’t mean that “El Camino de la Serpiente” is a bad record. Remember that I said that Metal fans like albums with some flaws. So, to them those flaws turn into a charm. That’s exactly what this album is. Charming, very charming.

First of all, my dear child of the night will strange that the lyrics are in Spanish – Well, fair enough to say what is possible to listen and understand. This one more charm to the album. Spanish gives a different sonancy to the songs. Not better, not worse. Just different. I, that had heard songs in many languages, discovered that each language give a very especific contribution to the band’s music. That happens because the musicians have to adapt their song writing to the language. It’s not that simple though. It requires a good vocalist to get to fit the lyrics into the song.

Musicwise, “El Camino de la Serpiente” has some Doom Metal traits as in “Tierra de Cementerio” whose guitars do address to classic bands as Manilla Road. It’s also fair to say that the album is pretty varied in terms of influences and compositions. Album welcomer “Intro” has some interesting textures using guitar and bass effects. The outcome is a song that sounds pretty fancy but structurally is very simple.  Fun fact is that “Intro” is longer than the following track “Alma Podrida” where my dear child of the night will notice what I said about the vocals. The strangement is immediate. The song showcases everything Condenados got. “Lucifer,” which by the name only could address to Black Sabbath, is the album’s grand finale.

To some extent, a great reference to the album is thre all time classic Desolation Angels self-tittled album. “El Camino de la Serpiente” do address to it.

Condenados “El Camino de la Serpiente” will be released on February 10th via Evil Confrontation Records.

Track Listing:

  1. Intro
  2. Alma Podrida
  3. El Diablo
  4. Condenados
  5. Jinete Ácido
  6. Mi Maldición
  7. El Carro y la Torre
  8. En el Templo
  9. Humo Negro
  10. La Mano del Destino
  11. El Camino de la Serpiente
  12. Tierra de Cementerio
  13. Lucifer

Watch “Mi Maldición” official music video here: