Hunters Moon
The Serpents Lust

January 2010
Released: 2009, Hell's Headbangers
Rating: 3.0/5
Reviewer: Alan Gilkeson

Buried Down Under, Hunters Moon's take on early Black Metal, the pre-Norway brand, blends bits from Black Metal tremolo picking and grindy Thrash Riffs, using a lot of reverbed guitars and echoing. Now the Australian Black Metal scene isn't a big player in the worldwide market, but as of late there have been a few bands making a splash. Still, the Hunters Moon variety sort of hedges the outskirts of the current Black Metal scene, more a tribute to the first phase of Black Metal, the likes of Bathory, tinged with a bit of the more epic stuff, Primordial and Destroyer 666.



THE SERPENTS LUST, the band's debut 'mini-album', features some nice guitar work, especially in tone and atmosphere. A song like 'Baphomet' rollicks with an awesome riff, but never strays to far into the 'power' end of things to lose sight of song texture and character. And though they seem to bury it a bit, the drum work plays nicely, lots of crash cymbal, very interesting. However, Hunter's Moon, adept as they are at exploring Quorthon, come off as a Bathory tribute rather than a band expanding on the Bathory genius.



Clocking in at 21 minutes, THE SERPENTS LUST shows the promise of a couple of guys deeply immersed in early Black Metal tradition. It remains to be seen whether or not they scrutinize the genre deeply enough to develop it in their own style. Many have tried and failed. However Hunters Moon have cracked the door open a bit here, revealing aptitude and insight... now it's time for the next level.