Denver doom/sludge metallers In The Company of Serpents will release their new album, Lux, on May 15 (pre-order). The album was produced, mixed, and mastered by Dave Otero (Cattle Decapitation, Cobalt, Khemmis, etc), and it features guest appearances from members of Primitive Man (guitarist/vocalist Ethan Lee McCarthy, who's also in Vermin Womb with ITCOP's JP Damon) and Khemmis (guitarist/vocalist Ben Hutcherson), as well as Colorado Chamber Players violist Paul Primus. Vocalist/guitarist Grant Netzorg says:

This record is titled "Lux", i.e. "light" in Latin, and one of the central ideas behind it is the notion of a Prima Materia, or fundamental root-essence behind everything in the manifest universe. Philosophers, hermeticists, alchemists, occultists, and all manner of different wizards have speculated what that Prima Materia, or “root essence,” is, but the three chief analogies I've employed in this record are:

All is sound

All is mind

and, critically, All is Light. With that in mind, we are employing a wealth of Solar imagery with this record, both in the front cover, and lyrically. The cover is essentially an artistic re-imagining of The Sun arcana from Tarot. This ties into the broader solar & light themes at play in the album, but the title, cover, and broader theme is also uniquely personal to me. "Lux" is the etymology of my daughter's name. So, while this album functions as a form of esoteric prayer on one hand, it also serves as a message to my 2 year old, who, as they say in the cliche, is the light of my life.

The band recently released opening track "The Fool's Journey," and we're now premiering second song "Scales of Maat," which is the song that features guest vocals from the Primitive Man and Khemmis members. On this one, Grant says:

The imagery here is of the weighing of one's heart/soul against a feather in Egyptian mythology. The scale was calibrated by Maat, and If you had lived a just, good life, your heart would be lighter than the feather. If you lived an unjust, evil life, you would be cast into darkness. The principle theme here is that we are all judged by our deeds, actions, and sympathies. The closing lyrics which feature guest vocals from Ethan Lee McCarthy of Primitive Man, Vermin Womb, & Many Blessings, & Ben Hutcherson from Khemmis and Glacial Tomb to this song are "When we're gone we'll be consumed by the maw of the all. Will we have been a worthy vessel for the light of the all?

It's a six-minute dose of towering, crushing doom/sludge, and it's pretty awesome. Listen here:

Tracklist

1. The Fool’s Journey

2. Scales Of Maat

3. Daybreak

4. The Chasm At The Mouth Of The All

5. Lightchild

6. Archonic Manipulations

7. Nightfall

8. Prima Materia