Snakemother are a four piece band who relish in sharing a mix of heavy riffs and gloomy atmospherics. Within in the vast landscapes of doom metal – often populated by bearded figures with guttural tones – Snakemother really stand out, since the four musicians are unafraid to blend their extremely slow and heavy sound with a relatively clean vocal, which gives the six tracks on their self-titled release a pleasing feeling of balance.

Not that a clean vocal makes their sound too accessible: the album’s ten minute opener barely gets beyond a funereal crawl, tempo wise, taking the Electric Wizard blueprint to its logical extreme. That said, within that number – the genuinely epic ‘Ritual’ – you’ll find plenty of superb playing from all concerned, and a couple of great melodic touches within the pure heaviness that help to keep the listener more than interested. Its intro weaves a North African style drone – the kind that would make Page & Plant proud – and couples that with a wordless vocal, stretching across two minutes. Having pulled in the audience, guitarist Sammie Dee Wallinga then cranks a huge, sludgy riff. It’s a riff so heavy that its possible to hear the layers of distortion cracking. It certainly makes an impression. Scaling everything back to more of a stoner infused sound, the opening verse makes great use of a bass driven tone, a classic post-Sabbath riff, and the kind of vocal that sounds as if it should be sharing an incantation. Eventually, the three or four distinct elements come together; with a slight increase in rhythm, some great drumming powers a doom-laden groove, before another hugely sludgy riff taps into something very much of the Electric Wizard persuasion once more. This is a track full of great moments, but if anything stands out, it’s the section that kicks in at around six minutes, where the doom riffs lean upon more of a tried and tested style, whilst vocalist Bianca Salinas taps into a forceful, busier style. The track peaks here, and could certainly reach a natural end, but Snakemother have a little more to give. After taking a detour through a quieter, spooky section coupled with clean vocals, everything reverts back to the main riff – and the Electric Wizard-esque, giving a feeling of completeness. ‘Ritual’ is rarely easy listening, but it’s utterly superb.

For those who’ve made it through that number, ‘Sancrum’ changes the mood a little. To begin with, the riffs are still as heavy as hell and delivered through a wall of extreme distortion, but during the semi-lengthy intro, they positively swagger. Julia Arria’s powerful drumming dictates an almost jazz like swing beneath the wall of sludge, showing how well Snakemother can adapt to a groove that sounds like a mix of Melvins and BlackLab. Having cleared the cobwebs, their beloved slow tempo returns, and the melody takes an almost cinematic stance. There’s an eastern flourish, a clear but worldless vocal and a spooky atmosphere that takes the doom a little further into the realms of mystical sounding metal, showing off Bianca’s vocal range and an impressive guitar tone from Sammie Dee with equal strength. Via a brief folk-tinged interlude, the band arrive back at a heavy sound, this time adopting a mid tempo for a solid head nodder of a riff. Once that finds its feet, it’s more than possible to hear influence from Sabbath’s influential ‘Into The Void’, but another great, slightly accented vocal ensures it sounds like a very different beast, before everything trails off very slowly with the help of the earlier cinematic melody making a return. It may sound like two different musical pieces glued together with the help of a folky distraction, but there’s enough power and musical vision here to make it one of the album’s instant highlights.

Following a couple of very heavy workouts, Snakemother unleash their more atmospheric side via ‘Circles’, a fusion of stoner rock and dark psych. There are quieter passages that seem to evoke the faintest ghosts of The Doors, but those who’ve already found themselves attracted to this band’s full on doomy vibe won’t feel short-changed, as the heavier moments soon bring back a perfect blend of pure doom with sludge driven undertones. The riffs aren’t always the most complex, but there’s a great pleasure in hearing a few clean, bluesy leads being interwoven with the distorted backdrop, and as with the opener, the way a clean but echoey vocal sits within the sludge creates a superb contrast throughout. ‘Little Lady’, meanwhile, opens with one of the record’s faster riffs, allowing for some superb drumming, and the fusion of rhythmic chug and howling guitar leads shows off Snakemother’s angrier side brilliantly. Fear not, though; it’s not long before they revert to the leaden Electric Wizard/Crowbar-isms that make up the heart of the ’Mother’s sound, and coupled with a lyric tackling “strength and resilience”, it becomes one of this album’s most powerful jams.

The shorter ‘Gold Shields’, at least at first, conveys a very different mood. A huge stop/start riff captures a tight rhythm section working brilliantly in tandem with the overdriven guitar parts, and a faster tempo shows Snakemother are a band capable of delivering a massive punch. And that’s before a bridge containing a few pneumatic drums and jagged guitar lines makes a brief appearance. The music’s great, but the vocal’s far greater: with the aid of some extra volume and a little vibrato, Bianca – although, possibly not deliberately – occasionally sounds like she’s channelling Siouxsie Sioux at her ferocious peak, giving this piece an unexpectedly gothic tinge. The combination of different musical moods and succinct playing time makes this one of the album’s most accessible tracks, before the also quite brief ‘Mu Rise’ brings more goth and doom flavours, providing a great showcase for a strong, yet haunting vocal. As with ‘Circles’, the quiet sits comfortably against some very heavy, chugging guitar lines. Although, at this point, it feels as if you’ve heard all of this from Snakemother previously, Bianca’s vocals remain impressive, and beneath the sludge, bassist Colie Sutter weaves in some equally muscular sounds. In terms of the tried and tested, this just works, proving that its often better to deliver something familiar with perfection and passion than veer too far off piste and have things move too far towards the inaccessible.

Some band names fit their musicians perfectly. Such is the case with Snakemother. Their chosen moniker sits very comfortably with their heavy yet layered musical stance. It’s also name that conjures up thoughts of some of the greatest stoner and doom acts, and with this self-released disc from 2023 reissued on the Ripple label in 2025, the band can now place themselves squarely among some of those bands. When judged on this debut, Snakemother aren’t just peers, though; in the absence of the mighty Black Moth and Witch Charmer – two absolutely stellar female-led stoner acts from the UK – they can consider themselves one of the scene’s true leaders. This is a fantastic album that no doom/sludge/heavy stoner lover should be without.

March/April 2025