In The Company Of Serpents A Crack In Everything Review
In The Company Of Serpents
A Crack In Everything
Self-Released
2025
There’s something about Denver’s In The Company of Serpents that feels like they’re dragging sound straight up from the dirt out of some ancient wound. Their new record “A Crack In Everything” is heavy in a way that goes beyond volume, it’s weighty, oppressive, spiritual even. It’s the kind of Doom/Sludge that doesn’t just pummel you; it seeps into your bones and lingers there long after the last note rings out.
From the first moments, you’re sucked into chaos. Guitar’s groan and quake like volcanoes erupting and the riffs feel less like “riffs” and more like immovable objects. The band’s duality shines here: on one hand, a suffocating heaviness that sounds like the earth opening up to swallow us whole, and on the other, passages of stark beauty and quiet reflection that feel fragile. That contrast is what makes “A Crack In Everything” so devastating, it’s not just bludgeoning Sludge, it’s dynamic storytelling through sound.
Vocally, there’s a raw, guttural edge that complements the music’s smothering atmosphere. It isn’t polished, and it doesn’t need to be, this is music meant to summon something, not to seek approval. The themes are oppressive and deal in mental and physical anxiety – it’s a shit ton to unpack specifically if you’ve dealt with substance abuse.
Clocking in at a tight runtime of 44 minutes, this album doesn’t waste a second. Every moment is deliberate, and the pacing makes the record hit that much harder. When the band leans into quiet introspection, it feels like a breath you desperately needed. When the walls of sound come crashing back down, you feel every ounce of that impact.
Admittedly, I’m late with a review of this album, but as I mentioned earlier, there’s a ton to unpack here and given that I’m still recovering from ear surgery and I’m a recovering alcoholic/drug addict, the lyrical content and music was almost uncomfortable at times. There are some albums you can just write 500 words on and be done, then there are albums like this one that you must listen to several times, find the comfort zones, adjust and lean into the spots that don’t bring up too many uncomfortable moments in your past.
Standouts – “Endless Well” (Featuring Jeff Owens of Goya), “Ghost On The Periphery”, “Don’t Look In The Mirror” and “Until Death Darkens Our Door”.