The Mysterious Sermon of the Snakes

The Black Serpent Choir - We Are The Black Serpent Choir

Just before Santa dropped Christmas, I received a friend request on Myspace. Normally I wouldn’t listen to the band straight away but the picture featured an old painting of a monkey dolled up as a monk. Unable to resist I followed the link and as I admired the William Blake painting, a monstrous fuzzed out bassline uncoiled through the speakers like a serpent, the beats kicked in and I was knocked back by a track that sounded, if anything, like something off Cypress Hill’s ‘Black Sunday’, the rhythm underpinning the bitch and squall of the synthline. You know when you watch a film and the dragon or lizardybadsnake falls into the flames and they do that screech thing that dying evil entities - witches, marketing men etc – do? Well, that’s what ‘We are The Black Serpent Choir’ sounds like.

For some reason a few people in South Wales (The Black Serpent Choir claim to be based in Cardiff) believe that they must be a side project for one the areas many talented musicians – Cian from the Furries is a favourite, Martin Carr another. BBC DJ, Adam Walton, who has championed the band, even put a poll up on his website, asking people to guess the true identity of the band. Personally, I don’t think it sounds like anybody mentioned and I like the mystery that they have and I don’t care who they may or may not be. All four tracks on Myspace are ace and in the end that’s what we’re for.

The Black Serpent Choir at My Space
Adam Walton's website

Domino Jones.