Salt the Earth - "Serpentarius"

Album review by Nick Spacek

Salt the Earth is amazing. I was lucky enough to be contacted by this Lawrence band a while back, and got to see them play a show at the Bottleneck where they simply blew me away. I downloaded their first album, "Serpentarius", off of their MP3.com site today, and recommend everyone else do the same.

It's amazing post-hardcore/metalcore that's something like a cross bewteen AFI, Poison the Well, and Fugazi. It's amazingly melodic music, but with an intensity that grabbed me by the ears and shook my head uncontrollably.

This album has to be one of the best-produced local albums I've ever heard. Aaron Crawford, of Leavenworth band KRAP, did a fantastic job in putting this record toegther. In the hands of a lesser, this record could have been muddy, but every bit of the album comes out clear as a bell.

I haven't enjoyed a local "heavy" release this much since Esoteric put out their last record. All in all, catch this band as soon as you can. They're on tour right now, but see them when they return- the road can only make them even better than they already are.

Band website- http://www.salttheearth.com.

--Nick Spacek
nick@thezone.org